Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)

chapter 3



He refused to allow his arms to pull her closer like they wanted to. He refused to allow too much passion in this kiss – even though his entire body yearned for it – it was too soon for her, and he knew it. It was too soon – and she seemed to realize it as well. She released her hands from his neck and pulled back, “I’m, I’m, I’m so sorry. That was so inappropriate. I’m not sure what came over me,” she stammered. The blush that filled her cheeks enticed him.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” he said as he released his arms from behind her back and walked over to the now ready x-ray machine.

“I’m not usually like this, really I’m not. It’s just that what you said was so sweet and so kind – something came over me and I just had to kiss you. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

His eyes met hers. He almost burst out with ‘please don’t say that’ but he held his tongue. He wanted this to happen again. He wanted this – and a lot more – but not until she was ready. Not until she wanted it too. “Please, it’s fine. I told you, you have nothing to be sorry for. I mean that.”

She blushed slightly and was that a smile and a twinkle in her eye? He sure hoped so. He wheeled the portable machine over next to the exam table. Very gently he unwrapped her ankle and positioned her foot on the glass plate that he had placed on the table. She winced and inhaled a few times. “I’m sorry. I know this hurts,” he said.

“It’s okay, I understand,” she said through clenched teeth.

He gently placed the protective vest over her torso and positioned the light from the x-ray machine directly over her ankle then he stepped to the other side of the machine and said, “Hold still,” right before he pressed the button. The machine beeped and he stepped back up to the table. As he re-positioned her ankle for a different view, she inhaled sharply and said, “Shouldn’t you be wearing some sort of protective vest too? You know, to protect yourself?” she said. He was confused for a second but then he watched as her eyes moved back and forth between his face and his crotch and it dawned on him – she was worried about his sperm. He bit back his laugh. “Oh, ummm, no. I’m, uh, actually I’m sterile,” he mumbled, deciding to go with the truth.

“Oh,” she said, blushing and averting her eyes, “sorry.”

“Why on earth would you be sorry for that? You had nothing to do with it. I came to terms with it a long time ago,” he said, thinking – yeah, a very long time ago, about eight hundred and sixty-three years ago.

He re-positioned her foot once more and stepped behind the machine, “Hold still again, please,” he said as he pushed the button. One more beep and then he walked over to the computer. He sat down and began clicking the mouse. She leaned up on one elbow to watch what he was doing. Pretty soon a grey image appeared on the screen. He moved the image over to a much larger screen and studied it. Then he did the same with the second image. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news,” he said.

“Let’s hear it,” she said.

“Well, there don’t appear to be any breaks, but you’ve got a torn ligament. We’re going to have to cast that foot.”

“Cast it? You mean a plaster cast?” she moaned.

He smiled, “No, I believe a removable boot cast should suffice – as long as you keep it on all the time, except to bathe. And by all the time, I mean when you’re sleeping too.”

“Oh, I will. I promise,” she said.

He went and rummaged through a few cabinets and drawers then he walked back to the table carrying a boot and something else. “I want to put some ointment on that burn,” he said innocently.

“B,b,burn? What burn?” she said as her eyes began moving over her body.

He slowed his walk, “You have a burn, on the back of your neck,” he said as he hesitantly stepped up to the table.

Her hands reached behind her, one pulling her hair to the side, the other carefully touching her neck, her fingers tracing the raised skin. Her eyes went wide as she stared at him, “Oww, ouch, what is that? Colton? What the f*ck is that?”

“It’s a burn,” he whispered.

“Bullshit,” she spat, “It’s more than just a burn. There’s a shape, a definite shape to it. Tell me what it is.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, “You don’t want to know.”

“Damn it Colton. Tell me what it is. Please?” she whimpered.

“It’s a wolf paw,” he whispered.

Silence. Colton was afraid to look at her. He was afraid of what he might do if he saw the pain in her eyes – he was afraid that he’d want to take her into his arms and try to kiss that pain away.

“Why would somebody do that?” she finally whispered.

“I don’t know,” he lied. He’d tell her when he felt she was strong enough.

Her hands covered her face and she began to quietly sob. He instinctively reached for her, cradling her head against his chest. “I’m afraid,” she sobbed.

“Don’t be. I’ll protect you,” he whispered.

She looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks, “No. I’m afraid of remembering.”

He cradled her chin in his hands, “I’ll be right here when you do. I promise,” he whispered – and he meant every word of it.

She could tell from the sound of his voice that he meant what he said. But she was still terrified – terrified that it wouldn’t be enough.

She was silent as he applied the ointment to the burn, re-wrapped her ankle, placed the boot on her leg and then he went to pick her up.

“Can’t I walk with this thing on?” she said.

“Not up two flights of stairs. But from the bed to the bathroom, yes,” he said as he scooped her up. Secretly she was glad. She really liked the way it felt in his arms.

As he walked through his bedroom door and towards the newly made bed with the fresh, clean sheets, she stopped him. “Ummm, bathroom first, please? I really need to pee,” she smiled.

“Oh, of course,” he stammered as he turned toward the bathroom, “I think I might need to run downstairs to grab toilet paper though. Oh, never mind, there’s some in here,” he said, thinking ‘thank you Hansen.’

He slowly released her legs when she was near the toilet. She inhaled with a hiss when her foot made contact with the floor. Even with the support of the boot, she could still barely stand.

“Will you be okay?” he said.

“God, I hope so,” she said smiling.

As he walked out and closed the door he looked back at her, “I’ll be right out here. Holler if you need anything.”

He walked to the edge of the bed and sat down. He couldn’t remember when the last time was that he’d had a woman in his bed. There had been women, lots of women, but only one night stands and only in hotel rooms. The last time a woman had been in his bed had been…..no, don’t even think her name.

The voice in his bathroom thankfully brought him back to the present, “Ummmm, Colton? This is really embarrassing, but I can’t seem to stand up.”

Colton chuckled slightly and walked to the door, “I’m coming in. Is that okay?”

“I guess it’ll have to be unless I want to spend the night on the toilet.”

Ever the gentleman, when he walked in, his eyes went straight to the linen closet on the opposite side of the room. He pulled out a towel and then walked with his eyes closed over to her. He held the towel out as a curtain, but kept his eyes closed. “Grab onto my forearms,” he said.

She did and in one surprising and incredibly strong move, he pulled her up. She held tight to one of his arms as she pulled up the baggy sweatpants with her other. “I’m decent now. Thanks,” she mumbled.

“Do you want to try walking to the bed?” he asked.

She hesitated with her answer. She knew she should say yes, but damn it, she liked it when he scooped her up in his arms and held her tight to his chest. Not only did it feel good, but, man, did he smell amazing – like sex on a lazy afternoon in a field of freshly cut grass, with a stream running through it and a cool breeze blowing from the pine trees, and……what was she supposed to be doing? Oh yeah, “Mmmm, I guess I can try to walk,” she whispered, disappointed with herself for not having the guts to beg him to sweep him into her arms. What was going on with her? Why did she feel this way when she was around him? She didn’t even know who she was. She should only be concerned with figuring that out, right? A part of her wanted that, wanted that more than anything. But then there was that other part. The part that knew what had been done to her, but didn’t want to know the details. Knowing what had happened was bad enough. Knowing the details just might drive her insane. That was something that she definitely didn’t want. But for some reason none of that mattered when Colton was near her. Whenever he was around she felt safe, more importantly, whenever he was around she felt wanted.

She placed her hand on the counter, carefully swung the boot leg forward, tried, honestly tried, to put weight on the foot but the intense pain that shot through her body instantly brought tears to her eyes and make her cry out. In less than a second she was in his arms

He carried her to the bed and was gently setting her down when there was a knock at the door.

“Come,” he said.

Hansen opened the door and the smell of pancakes and syrup and bacon and coffee wafted into the room before he entered. She licked her lips. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until just then. Colton took the tray from Hansen and placed it carefully over her legs. As she began to dig in he started walking towards the door. She swallowed a big mouthful of food and the panic that wanted to explode out of her, “Where, where are you going?” she mumbled.

He smiled at her, “I just have to grab something. I’ll be right back.”

She listened to his footsteps going down the hall and down the stairs. She could hear muffled voices at the bottom of the stairs, one of which didn’t sound happy. “Hansen,” she said, smiling and taking another mouthful of food.

“Sir, this is not a good idea, having her here. You know that, right?” Hansen said.

Colton glanced up the stairs, “Keep your voice down. I don’t want her to hear you. Of course I know it’s not a good idea, Hansen. But what am I supposed to do? She doesn’t even know who she is. Where am I supposed to take her? I can’t take her home, she doesn’t know where that is. And I don’t want to take her to the police station because they’ll just send her to a mental hospital for evaluation. I can’t let her go through that. And if I did that I wouldn’t be able to find him for her. And I’m going to find him, Hansen. I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him. I owe her that.”

“Excuse me? You owe her that? Why on earth do you feel that you owe her, Sir? Aren’t you the one who saved her? Doesn’t she technically owe you?” Hansen said.

Colton looked at Hansen. How was he supposed to tell him that this woman that he barely knew was the one who had saved him, not the other way around. Hansen would tell him he was insane. Hell, even he thought he might have lost it. But there was something about her. Something that woke up his heart – a heart that had been dormant for a long, long time – and for that he was grateful. “For now she’s our guest, Hansen. Try to remember that,” he said as he walked into his office. He grabbed his laptop and his American Express card and headed back up the stairs. When he opened the door it was to a scene that made laugh out loud – ‘Miss’ was in the middle of licking the syrup off of her empty plate. She gave him a surprised look over the top of the plate then she gave him a sheepish grin, blushing several shades of pink.

“The syrup is really good,” she mumbled.

“So I gather,” he said, chuckling as he walked to the bed, “Would you like some more?”

She shook her head, “No, I’m full. But thanks.”

He set the laptop on the edge of the bed then lifted the tray from over her legs and set it on the floor. Then he picked p the laptop.

“What’s that for?” she asked.

He motioned to the bed, “May I,” he said then he smiled slightly when her heart beat quickened as she nodded. He sat down next to her and fired up the laptop. He entered his password and then brought up the internet. He set the laptop on her legs and then handed her his credit card, “I want you to order anything that you need: clothes, shampoo, female supplies, anything. I mean it. Anything at all. And then when you’re done with that, you can use this to do some research to try to figure out who you are.”

She tried to hand his card back to him, “Colton, I can’t do that. I can’t take your money,” she whispered.

He stopped her hand by placing his on the back of hers. He tried not to react but he could tell that she felt the tingle that shot up his arm just like he did. Amazing. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his own heart. “Miss. Please. Money is not the issue here. The issue is that you’re staying here until you can figure out who you are and where you live (or hopefully longer, he thought suddenly, surprising himself) and you’re going to need some things – and I’m going to need my sweatpants back,” he added, grinning. “Besides, if it feels better, you can consider it a loan and pay me back. Will that work?”

She dropped her hand back to the bed, “I, I guess,” she mumbled.

“Great,” he said as he stood up. He grabbed a pen and paper from the nightstand, “Make sure you have it shipped overnight. I have a post office box in town. I can send Hansen to pick it up tomorrow.” He turned to head out the door, “I have a few things to take care of downstairs but I’ll be back up here to check on you this afternoon. And if you need anything at all – food, drink, a helping hand to the bathroom – just holler. It’s a big house, but sounds in it really carry,” he said, thinking – no, it’s my vampire hearing that will hear you.

She had to bite her lip to keep herself from asking him to please not leave. And, truthfully, he really didn’t have anything to take care of downstairs, but he didn’t want to hover – and he didn’t want to tempt himself further.

He carried the tray downstairs and found Hansen, brooding of course, in the kitchen. He walked to the sink and began rinsing the dishes. Hansen walked over and tried to move him out of the way, “I can do that, Sir,” he said as his hands tried to push Colton’s out of the way.

Colton smiled at Hansen, “Relax, Hansen. Let me do this for a change. Besides, I need you to sit down and make up a shopping list. You’ll need to go to the store tomorrow and stock up on enough food for the two of you.”

Hansen shot him a dirty look, but kept his mouth closed. Finally he sighed as he sat down at the table, “For how long, Sir?” he said.

“I don’t know, Hansen. It could be a while.”

Colton could hear Hansen’s jaw muscles clenching. Finally, Hansen pushed the chair back from the table and stormed to the refrigerator. As he pulled it open he said, “Fine. I understand. I guess I’ll fix the two of us steaks for dinner.” He stood up and tossed two packages of raw meat onto the counter. As Hansen tore open the plastic so that he could marinate the steaks, the scent of the raw blood oozing from the fresh meat hit Colton like a sledgehammer, reminding him that it had now been a few days since he’d fed. He inhaled sharply and felt his fangs push into his mouth. He could see that Hansen really wanted to scold him for allowing him to go so long, but Hansen held his tongue. “It’s almost sunset. You should go into town for a little while and feed. I can keep an eye on the girl,” he said.

Colton’s eyes lifted up, towards the second floor. It shouldn’t take him more than an hour.

But he didn’t want to leave her. Not right now. He shook his head, “No. I’m fine. I’ll wait until she’s asleep and then I’ll go.”

Hansen shot him a look. He wanted to say something to Colton, but he didn’t. He didn’t because he owed Colton. He owed him everything. Colton had saved him, saved him from himself, over three hundred years ago. And that was a debt that he felt would never be repaid, not as long as he was alive.

Colton looked a little concerned as he studied Hansen. Finally he said, “It’s almost time for you, isn’t it? We’re coming up on a year, right?”

Hansen squeezed his eyes shut. He still hated this part of himself, but at least it was controlled now. Thanks to Colton, he could control it. You see, Hansen was what was known, in modern terminology, as a Devourer. He stole people’s life essence, not their blood. That was how he survived and was made immortal. In every other way he was human except for the fact that he was over three hundred years old. When Colton had first found him, Hansen had just been made, well, just - as in about fifty years before. He had been made and then his maker had abandoned him without any training or anything. So for fifty years he roamed the countryside taking every life essence he could, thinking that that’s what he needed to survive. Young, old, male, female – he didn’t discriminate because he thought he needed it – and he was going insane because of it, he was becoming a monster. Until Colton saved him. Colton found him when Hansen tried to take Colton’s life essence. Colton had laughed at first, “Young man, don’t you know what I am?” he had said. Hansen replied, “No, and I don’t give a damn,” and had lunged at him again. In an instant, Hansen had been flipped around so that his back was pressed to Colton’s chest. Colton’s hands were squeezed around his neck. And then he felt Colton’s breath on his neck, felt his fangs scrape the skin but not pierce it. Hansen’s eyes went wide and he stopped breathing. “I could drain you in ten seconds. Do you know what I am now?”

Hansen’s Adams apple bounced on Colton’s fingers as he swallowed hard. He nodded and managed a raspy, “Yes.”

“You need to learn some self-control, young man. And some manners. Would you like me to teach you?” Colton had said.

Hansen knew instantly that he would learn so much from this vampire. He barely hesitated before he nodded and said, “please.”

They had been together ever since. Teacher and pupil to the end.

Hansen looked at Colton and tilted his head to the side. He finally wanted to ask the one question that he had never asked before, “Why didn’t you drain me that night, Sir? The night that you met me, why didn’t you kill me?”

Colton looked surprised at first, then he smiled, “Finally getting around to asking that, huh Hansen? Okay, truthfully? I’ve tasted a few Devourers in my life. Your blood is, how shall I put this, pretty f-in’ nasty,” he said grinning as he walked out of the kitchen. Colton smiled when he heard Hansen mumble, “liar,” as he walked up the stairs. Yeah, he was a liar. Hansen knew him too well.

He knocked lightly on the door. “Come in,” she said from the other side. He smiled as he walked in and saw her furrowed brow as she studied what was on the computer screen. She looked simply adorable. “Did you order your things?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I did. I’m looking for missing persons articles in newspapers right now.”

Colton pulled his phone out of his pocket. He knew his credit card account was linked to his email, so he would have an email confirmation of the order in his inbox. He brought it up on his phone. “Eighty-three dollars? That’s all you spent?”

“What? Oh, well, yeah, I don’t need much,” she whispered.

He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the order on his phone as he spoke, “Miss, two t-shirts, one pair of jeans, one bra and one pair of panties? That’s it? Look, not to be blunt here, but what about feminine pads, tampons, shampoo, deodorant? And that foot will take about six weeks to heal. If your memory doesn’t come back before then, then you will be staying here that entire time. Do you really think that one set of under garments is going to be enough for six weeks? And one pair of pants? What are you going to wear when everything is being washed? And what are you going to sleep in?”

She blushed as she stared at him, “Oh,” she mumbled.

He moved a little closer so that he was sitting next to her on the bed, “Let’s place another order, shall we?”

She watched him for a few seconds. “You’re not going to let me say no, are you?”

He shook his head, “Nope.”

Thirty minutes later – after trying to argue with him at every turn - (“I don’t need a dozen pairs of underwear”, “Oh, come on, four yoga pants?” “Slippers? Seriously? I do not need slippers.”) - she finally clicked on the ‘confirm order’ button.

“God, you are as stubborn as a mule. Do you always get your way?” she said.

He smiled with a playful glint in his eye, “Usually.”

“Somebody’s going to have to do something about that,” she mumbled, smiling. She sighed and closed the laptop.

“Something wrong?” he said.

She shook her head, “No. I’m just tired of looking at this thing.”

“Haven’t found anything yet?”

“Nope,” she said then she turned and looked at him, “Since I might have to be here awhile, I think I’d like to know a few things about you.”

“Like?”

“Like, is there a Misses Colton Renner?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.”

“So you’re gay? You and Hansen are a couple?” she asked, although she really felt that this one wasn’t true. She felt it in her gut.

Colton laughed. “No. We’re not a couple. Not sexually anyways. I suppose in every other way we could be seen that way – I mean we’re always together and we finish each other’s sentences. But friendship is as far as it goes.”

“So why do you live out here, in the middle of nowhere? Are you agoraphobic?”

“Me? Afraid of people? Hardly,” he said.

“Shy?” she said.

“A little, I suppose.”

“Are you a serial killer?”

Colton’s head whipped around, “What? Really? What do you think? Do you think I’m a serial killer?”

She stared at him for a minute, “No. I don’t think so. But I’m guessing you wouldn’t tell me if you were.”

“No. I probably wouldn’t.”

Suddenly a wolf howled in the distance – and Miss screamed.

Colton was wrapping her arms around her before her next breath. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Miss. It’s okay. Nothing is going to hurt you, I promise.”

She dug her fingers into his arm as she tried to get herself under control. She had never had a panic attack in her life – and she didn’t like it.

After about fifteen minutes, her crying into his chest began to quiet down. She tried to wipe the tears away from her eyes as she said, “I’m sorry. I’ve never been afraid of w…www…wwwolves before. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You were being chased by wolves when you came to my house, Miss. I’m sure that has something to do with it.”

“I was being chased by wolves? What the hell was I doing out in the woods?” then she suddenly got a surprised look on her face, “A house! A white house with a green door! I have something to do with a white house with a green door and a sign out front. But I can’t see what the sign says. I wonder if that’s where I work? Or maybe it’s where I live? Wait! I remember that sign. It says “Annie’s Place” Is that me? Is my name Annie? I don’t know. Why can’t I remember if my name is Annie or not?”

“Calm down. You’re trying to force it. It won’t come back that way. You have to relax. It’ll come to you. I promise,” he said as her sobs started again.

Colton automatically reached his arm around her shoulders. Her head came down onto his thighs as she cried. He caressed her hair as he tried to soothe her fears, “Shhhh. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

She cried until she had no more tears left and then she drifted off to sleep. Colton continued to caress her hair, even as Hansen quietly poked his head in the room and whispered, “Dinner for her, sir?”

Colton shook his head and whispered, “She’s too tired tonight. Let her sleep. You can fix her breakfast in the morning.”

“And dinner for you, Sir?” Hansen said, giving Colton that ‘you have to go feed tonight’ look.

Colton nodded his head, “I will. As soon as she’s in a deep sleep, I’ll slip out.”

Hansen gave him a ‘make sure you go or I’ll have to come back up here’ look.

“I’ll go. I promise. Now go to bed. That’s an order,” Colton said, smiling. Hansen quietly closed the door behind him. Colton stayed for another two hours – longer than he planned, but he wanted to make sure she was sound asleep. When she rolled off of his lap and did an adorable snort in her sleep, he knew that was his chance. He grabbed his coat and was out the door and on the way to town within thirty seconds. He ran – it was faster than driving – covering the twenty three miles into town in a few minutes. He was hanging around in the alley outside one of the local seedy bars for only a few minutes before his first inebriated snack stumbled out. Colton’s diet for half a century now had been drunk men. He preferred not to tempt himself by feeding on women. As the drunk man braced himself against the alley wall, pulled his cock out of his pants and began urinating against the wall, Colton made his move. He stepped behind the man and in one swift move Colton’s fangs sunk into the man’s neck while his hand pressed against the man’s forehead – erasing his memory as he drank. The man never knew that anything was happening other than he was peeing on the wall. As the man shook the last few drops, Colton licked the wounds, closing them – and then stepped back into the shadows – waiting for his next taste. This was how his feedings went – five or six in a night was usually enough.

As his fourth victim stumbled into the alley, Colton stepped up behind him and began to drink. After only a few seconds though, he suddenly felt something yank on his shoulder. His head spun around, fist up, ready to strike – but there was no one there. The man grunted behind him so Colton turned back around and continued feeding and wiping his memory. Again, the hard yank on his shoulder – this one nearly knocking him to his feet. He licked the man’s wounds – closing them – released the dazed man from his grasp and stepped back in the shadows to watch. Nothing. He saw nothing. Nobody was there. Yet something had definitely pulled on him. Suddenly he was lurched forward into the middle of the alley, startling a couple walking by. What the hell was going on? What invisible thing was pulling him? Suddenly it dawned on him that he had felt this before – a few nights ago when the girl was in the woods in front of his home. He knew without a doubt then that she had woken up at his home and that she needed him right then. She needed him and that need was trying to pull him to her. But that wasn’t possible – not with a vampire. At least not that he had ever heard of – and he had heard it all in his eight hundred-freaking-odd years on this earth. “What the hell are you?” he mumbled as he began running towards his home.

He burst through the door just as Hansen was halfway up the stairs. He had heard her screams when he was still a few miles away. He mumbled, “Go back to bed, Hansen. I’ve got this,” as he dashed past him up the stairs, dropping his coat along the way. He stopped just outside the door to take a deep breath and smooth his hair down – knowing that he would then walk into the room looking exactly as he had when he was in there with her before she fell asleep. By the time he put his hand on the doorknob, the screaming stopped. He pushed open had the door, and gasped – she wasn’t in his bed….and the window was open. He frantically looked around the room for her. He checked the bathroom, under the bed and then began to get a sick feeling in his stomach as he slowly walked towards the open window. He stared out towards the woods as despair began to wash over him, “Please tell me you didn’t go,” he whispered into the night.

“You left me,” came a shaky voice to his right.

He spun around and stared towards the closet. Should he tell her the truth? He didn’t want her to be any more frightened than she already was, “I was just downstairs, taking care of a few things, Miss. I’m sorry it scared you. I didn’t realize you’d wake up.”

“I woke up because you left me. You leave, I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel safe, I have nightmares. That’s how it goes,” she said, still sounding angry.

He took a few hesitant steps towards the closet. He still couldn’t see her in it. She must be tucked back in the far corner. “Miss? Please come out.”

“I can’t,” she said.

“You can’t? Or you won’t?”

“I can’t,” she whispered, and he could actually hear the blush that filled her cheeks.

“Miss, what do you mean you can’t?” he said as his own heartbeat quickened.

“Why aren’t you answering my question?” he said.

“Because I’m embarrassed,” she said.

“Embarrassed? About what? I’m a doctor, remember? I’ve seen it all.”

“Yeah, but you’re a handsome doctor, and that makes all the difference in the world,” she mumbled to herself – but his vampire hearing picked up every word….and he couldn’t help but smile.

“I, well, I’ve always gotten really hot when I sleep. Ever since I reached my teens, my body can be like a furnace at night. When that happens, I, umm, I , well, I throw off whatever I’m wearing at the time without realizing it.”

He didn’t speak for a second, he was afraid she would hear his pounding heartbeat in his voice. He swallowed hard. “So, you’re completely naked in there? Well, this is a first for me. I can honestly say that there’s never been a naked woman in my closet before,” he said, smiling.

“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny and it’s your fault. And my ankle is killing me.”

“I’m not laughing,” said his voice from right above her, making her gasp. His hand held out his robe to her, but he kept his head turned towards the bedroom. Ever the gentleman. She took a deep sniff of his robe before she wrapped it around her body – it smelled just like him: sweet and sexy and something that she definitely wouldn’t mind having wrapped around her body.

“Are you covered up?” he said.

“Yes.”

His hanging clothes parted from just above her, and he was smiling the most beautiful smile at her when she looked up. It was a smile that she felt like she could see every morning and never get tired of. She didn’t even bother trying to stand – she just reached her arms out to him and he leaned down and scooped her up. The robe, while it was tide tightly around her, was not down to her legs because she had forgotten to tuck it under her backside – something she realized the second the warm flesh on his arm touched the soft skin on the back of her knees. A rush of air flew past her lips as she inhaled sharply – and was that a shiver from him or was she imagining things?

****************************************** ‘Crap!’ he thought as the spark shot from his arm straight into his groin. His cock immediately throbbed and strained against his jeans – all from touching the backs of her knees???? What was he? Some horny teenager? This was really getting ridiculous. He was a man so firmly embedded on the side of control, that very few vampires even knew he existed except for his close friends, because that was how he wanted it. The last thing he needed was some newbie coming to him to find out what things were like before The Dark Time, as it was known: Before the group of vampires that were known as The Elders came into power and mutated their very genetics to their own liking – made them so they couldn’t create other vampires themselves, only The Elders could. The Elders made them so that they couldn’t control their fangs, couldn’t stop themselves when they fed on humans – basically they made them so that they were at the mercy of The Elders – who supplied them with the blood they needed in order to survive. Vampires now were genetically different from vampires like himself who were around before the change. There were very few like him around anymore, although he had heard some talk that there was a new one: a female, who had somehow been created without The Elders’ help and who had then organized other vampires to take down The Elders. She was different. She was more like Colton. But that didn’t mean that Colton wanted to be buddy-buddy with her. No, he preferred his somewhat-solitary lifestyle. Just him and Hansen and his men, men who had fought by his side, men who would die for him, men who he would die for – at least until she came along.

Again, that question that had plagued him when he had run back to the house earlier when she had sent some sort of invisible power to pull him back crossed his mind – what is she? He pushed the question away, for now.

As he walked to the bed he said, “So – this getting hot at night – it also makes you open the window without realizing it?”

“Oh, I didn’t open that. I thought maybe Hansen or you did,” she said, stopping him in his tracks. He immediately pulled her tighter to his chest as his eyes darted around the room. He sniffed hard, trying to catch a scent, but at the moment all he could smell was her. He was at the end of the bed, half way between the closet and the bathroom when he heard the low growl coming from the doorway. She heard it too – and he squeezed her tighter and whispered, “Shhhh,” before her scream could come out. Thankfully she was able to swallow it back down, but she was trembling in his arms. The wolf’s red eyes locked on his. “I’m going to set you down behind me,” he murmured quiet enough for only her to hear, “the second I move – run to the bathroom and lock yourself in.” He knew her adrenaline would keep her from feeling any pain in her ankle, so she should be able to move fairly quickly – besides, the bathroom was only two hops away if you were running. He only hoped he could give her enough time – these werewolves were fast – faster than her but not faster than him.

She nodded slightly and he released her legs slowly and brought her around to stand behind him – his eyes never leaving the wolf’s face. He could see the wolf’s haunches preparing to launch – could see the muscles twitch as they readied for release – could smell his eager anticipation of a strike. And he could also feel her hands on his waist as she clung desperately to him – her fear making her hands unable to release – and he liked them there.

His knees bent slightly as he prepared to counter the wolf’s jump with one of his own – when suddenly his ears heard the whoosh of an arrow slicing through the air. The wolf yelped and then collapsed onto its side – killed instantly by a silver arrow from Hansen’s crossbow as he stood on the stairs. Colton spun around and pulled her into his embrace – both to comfort her and to keep her from looking up and seeing the now naked dead human male that lay on the floor just outside his bedroom door. This was not something she needed to know – yet.

“Is it, is it dead?” she sobbed into his chest, trembling and completely panic-stricken.

He heard his door close and knew it was safe to release her from his grasp. His hands held both cheeks, forcing her eyes to lock with his. He knew he could just erase her memory of the last few minutes – but he didn’t want mess with her head like that, not until she was healed. “Look at me, come on, focus. There you go, that’s my girl. You’re fine. You’re safe now.”

******************************************My girl? Did he just call her my girl? And did her heart really start racing like she was a school girl whose crush had just told her that he liked her? Oh, and by the way….

“Safe? Bullshit, safe. How the hell did a wolf open a window and climb in here? And why didn’t it attack me when it first came in? And how in the hell did it open the bedroom door?” she gasped. He looked into her eyes – eyes that were begging him, pleading with him for answers. Answers that he knew her fragile psyche wouldn’t be able to handle right now – answers like, ummm, he was human when he climbed into the room…..and he was probably waiting for Colton to get home before he attacked. Damn these three-day full moons anyways – at least this was the last night for a month.

And there were answers that he didn’t have – like how the hell had the mangy mutt made it past his security system? He would have to have it checked tomorrow.

Instead of giving her the answers that she was seeking, he gave her the answer that he knew that she needed, “You’re safe because I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere,” he said as he stared deep into her eyes.

Somehow that felt like exactly the right answer. She hugged her arms tightly around his waist, pressing her body tight to his, and whispered, “Don’t leave me again.”

“I won’t, Miss,” he said – and she somehow knew that he was telling the truth.

“Tess. Please call me Tess,” she said, so innocently.

“Tess? Why Tess?” he said.

“Because that’s my name, silly,” she said – and then it hit her, what she had just said, “Tess! My name is Tess! I remember that. Oh my God, I remember my name! It’s Tess,” she said, and he felt relief flood into her.

“Well, nice to meet you, Tess. Do you remember anything else?” he said, his heart pounding – he really wasn’t ready for her to leave yet, but if she remembered where she lived, she might want to.

He felt her face frown into his chest, “No. Just my name.”

She felt him sigh, almost like he was relieved. Odd, she thought. Didn’t he want her to remember everything so he could send her home and get her out of his hair? Did he actually want her to stay here longer? Her? She was damaged goods, why would he? He was one seriously sick vampire. Vampire?!? That just popped into her head without thinking. He was a vampire – that’s why he looked the way he did, that’s why he was so incredibly strong, and that’s why he oozed that ‘come f*ck me’ vibe. A vampire. Why the hell didn’t that scare her or shock the shit out of her? Did she already know vampires existed? Apparently she did, because knowing he was one felt perfectly normal. Did she know other vampires? Was she one? She couldn’t be, or her foot would have healed by now – oh, and there was the whole bodily functions bit too, and eating. Should she tell him that she knew? If she did, would he erase her memory of him and send her away? Vampires could do that kind of shit, right? If he could, she really didn’t want him to do that. Suddenly one little word from him brought her mind back to her surroundings, “Tess?” he whispered.

******************************************Colton’s heart started pounding. He could hear Hansen lifting the were’s body and carrying him down the stairs to the basement furnace. Hansen was strong enough to handle the task by himself, but would probably appreciate an extra set of hands. Colton knew he should probably go help – but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her, even for a few minutes. She was still shaking like a leaf. All he wanted to do was comfort her and make her feel better. Was he really going to do what he was thinking about doing? Was he insane? Two words from her lips made his decision for him, “Yes, Colton?” she whispered as her head came around to stare at him. Those eyes, those deep green eyes pulled him in – those eyes had fear and curiosity in them, that was to be expected – but longing, passion and desire? Was he really seeing that or was it his imagination?

“I want to kiss you,” he murmured as something just barely above a whisper. He steeled himself for rejection. But he watched, fascinated, as her eyes changed. Gone were the fear and curiosity. Burning strong, strong enough for him to feel it in his loins, was longing, passion and desire, dear God, she had so much desire in her.

“What are you waiting for?” she whispered, her eyes pulling him in so deep he was afraid he might drown.

He hesitated, “Are, are you sure you’re ready?” he said.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she said, “Just shut up and kiss me already.”

He didn’t need a second invitation. His mouth crushed down on hers. Their lips became one as his tongue darted in and swirled around hers. A fire instantly ignited in his body, a fire that he hadn’t felt in many years. Sure he’d had sex in that time, but passion? No, the sex was just to relieve pressure – there had been no passion in the sex, not from him anyways, not since….her. But there was passion now, holy shit, was there passion now. It burned so strong he literally felt like he might spontaneously combust. He groaned as he pulled her closer to him. She matched him with a moan and moved her hips back just far enough so her hands could reach the waistband of his jeans and open the button. As she slowly pulled his zipper down, he had a brief moment of panic. God, if she touched him there, he wouldn’t be able to stop. He had to know that she was really ready – he had to make sure that she knew whether or not she was ready. Panting, he pulled away and grasped her hands in his. “Are you positive?” he gasped.

“Please – just make me feel good again,”

That was all he needed. He released her hands and allowed her to slide his jeans and underwear down past his waist – his rock hard erection finally springing free and pressing into her belly. She reached behind him with one hand and cupped his ass while the other hand came up and wrapped around his cock. He grunted and almost shot his load all over her belly. “Holy shit,” she mumbled into his mouth as her hand explored the length and width of him. He couldn’t help but smile slightly. “It’s all for you,” he whispered then he picked her off the floor and shuffled to the edge of the bed as he kicked his pants off of his feet. Her hand seemed glued to his cock as he shifted her in his arms so that he could lay her gently on the bed and not hurt her ankle. He stopped kissing and smiled at her, his eyes twinkling, “You have to let go for a second so I can set you down.”

“Not a f*cking chance,” she growled as she reached her other hand behind his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers. God, but this woman had passion. He swallowed hard – his fangs really wanted to drop and his eyes were begging to change to black – but he wanted to look at her, and he didn’t want to scare her. So he suppressed the need to allow his inner beast to emerge – this time. He set her on the edge of the bed, climbed over her then moved his hand down behind her lower back and slid her to the middle of the bed. She moaned louder at his man-handling of her and pressed her already wet crotch into his belly – but still keeping a firm grip on him. He moved his kisses down to her breasts, taking each nipple into his mouth and sucking until they felt as hard in his mouth as his cock felt in her hand then he raised up and looked at her, smiling, “You have to let go if you want it in you, you know.”

It was almost like she was afraid he was going to run away – not a f*cking chance of that now – he couldn’t stop now if the house were on fire.

She smiled back at him, “Just shut up and f*ck me,” she said as she guided her pelvis to meet him. As his head pushed through her opening into the dripping wet channel beyond, her hand finally released him – but it immediately moved, with her other hand, to grab his ass and squeeze tight as her legs wrapped themselves around the back of his legs and urge him forward. God, that felt good, but it was definitely not something that he needed. He surged forward and began pumping in and out of her, measuring his thrusts until he was sure that his length wasn’t hurting her. Her muscles squeezed him tighter and tighter as her passion grew. She threw her head back and thrust her breasts towards his mouth, “Suck them, suck them hard,” she rasped.

He complied.

“Yes, yes, oh God, yes, so close, f*ck, I’m so close,” she groaned. He loved how vocal she was. He tore himself away from her nipples to watch her face. He wanted to see her when she came, and she was about to. He could smell it. He could feel her orgasm’s ripples beginning inside her.

Her head tossed side to side, “Don’t stop, f*ck me, yes, right there, that’s the spot, f*ck yes, Oh God, I’m going to come,” she yelled. Throwing her head back again, she cried out. She cried out loud and long. Holy shit was it long. He’d never been with a woman who came as long as she did. She writhed in ecstasy beneath him for a full two minutes – two minutes where he was so lost in her, so mesmerized by her that he forgot his own need for release. As the ripples that pulsed from her and around his cock finally began to subside, she looked up at him. She was breathless, but managed to say, “Harder, faster. Come for me and keep mine going. Hurry.”

He was floored, “Keep yours going? Really?” How was that f*cking possible?

“Now, damnit. F*ck me harder, now!” she growled.

Suddenly he remembered his own need and started pumping into her with fury. So hard and fast that the bed was moving away from the wall. “F*ck, yes,” she groaned. Incredibly, he felt the ripples in her growing stronger again – she was still coming, and it was getting stronger. He felt his cock increase in size as his own impending orgasm approached. The increase brought her over another crescendo. Her muscles squeezed him tighter than any hand every had. “Oh f*ck, Tess, I’m going to come,” he said and a second later it hit. He threw his head back and cried out at the ceiling as he hid his black eyes and fangs from her, pumping furiously as she milked every last drop out of him. He slowed his rhythm as the pulsing in her channel began to slow as well. He wanted to lean down and kiss her, but he had to calm himself enough to get his fangs to retract and his eyes to change. A few seconds later, he was able to lean down and kiss her – and he almost gasped at the look of peace and complete satisfaction that was on her face. He felt an overwhelming desire to make sure that she wore that look for the rest of her days. “Tess,” he whispered as his lips met hers.

He didn’t want to crush her, so he leaned up and started to pull out of her.

“Don’t,” she said, making him stop. He lifted a questioning eyebrow. She smiled and lifted one of her legs, allowing him to pivot around to spoon behind her – all while keeping his still semi-hard cock inside her.

He felt her melt into his chest as she relaxed. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He leaned down and kissed her shoulder as he whispered, “No, thank you.”

Even though her back was to him, he could feel her smile as she drifted off to sleep – and he wasn’t far behind her.

He woke the next morning from the sun reaching dangerously close to his toes – shit! He had forgotten to close the window and the shades. He rolled away and grabbed the remote from the nightstand. As the specially-made shades to keep out the sun’s rays but not the light lowered, it was then that he realized that he was alone in the bed. She had gotten out of bed and it didn’t wake him up? How the hell did that happen? He sniffed and listened – and located her in the bathroom, in the shower. She was standing in the shower on that ankle? The medic in him started to get a little angry. He walked, naked, to the door and pushed it open without knocking. She was bracing herself up on the wall, being careful to not put any weight on the injured foot, as all of the jets cascaded around her. The sight of her, wet, in his shower had his cock wide awake, even if the rest of him still wasn’t.

Without turning around she said, “Are you just going to stand there gawking or are you going to come help me stand up so I can wash my hair?”

He stepped in and gathered her in his arms, “So, I’m just a crutch now?”

“In more ways that I care to admit,” she mumbled as she tilted her head back under the spray. The vein in her neck just above the clavicle throbbed at him – it called to him to taste her, to taste her while he was f*cking her. God, why was he so hungry again when he had just fed last night? It wasn’t that he was hungry, he realized with a shock, it was that he was hungry for her.

******************************************God, the sight of him naked in the shower was almost enough to bring on another orgasm. Ever since he had touched her last night, she was like a walking orgasm. Her throbbing * had awakened her, twice, during the night and left her with no option but to rub it until she came – which didn’t take long at all. She had hoped that her sounds would wake him and he would join in – but unfortunately he slept like the dead. Even when she had rolled over and pulled the sheet off of him so she could stare at that beautiful cock that had brought her more pleasure than she’d ever known while she touched herself, he didn’t stir, damn it!

His hands were clasped behind her lower back, holding her up as she washed and conditioned her hair. As she tilted her head back to rinse the conditioner out and run her fingers through her long brunette hair to work the tangles out, she realized that he was strangely quiet. She snapped her head up and found him staring intently at her neck and licking his lips. He wanted to drink from her, to taste her. The thought was so erotic that she was instantly wet and throbbing. She wanted to offer herself to him. God help her, she wanted to tell him to bite her. But then he would know that she knew what he was. What would he do then?

She clasped his face in her hands and forced his eyes to meet hers. He blinked a few times as if he was coming out of a trance and then she saw panic forming as he stared at her. She kissed him, hard, as she tried to build up the strength to say what she was about to say. She kissed him until she felt his panic give way to lust – she kissed him until she felt him grow hard against her belly. She pulled away and locked eyes with him again. “I don’t ever want to forget you. Do you understand what I’m saying? Please, I don’t ever want to forget you. Promise me that I won’t forget you,” she said.

She watched as the panic started to creep back into his eyes, panic mixed with confusion, “What, what do you mean?” he whispered.

What did she mean…he knew damn well what she meant, “Humor me, promise me that I’ll never forget you Colton.”

“Okay, I promise,” he said hesitantly, trying to figure out how much she knew, “Now, what do you mean? Are you afraid of losing more of your memory, Tess?”

“Only if you take it,” she whispered, watching him.

He drew back, almost as if she had slapped him. He released her from his grip as he took a step back. She wobbled and almost stepped down on her injured foot, but he reached out and grabbed her before she did, “Sorry,” he mumbled, “Tess, what do you mean ‘only if I take it’? How the hell would I take away your memory?” he said. She could see his heart pounding in his chest, could see the fast labored breathing that signaled his stress.

******************************************

Dear God, what was she saying? Did she think that he was some crazy doctor who performed insane experiments or was it something worse – her knowing what he was would be worse, because she would run screaming from his life.

She smiled and cupped her hand on his cheek, and holy shit there was so much tenderness in her eyes that he wanted to cry. Her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear one damn word. Just like last night, he was completely lost in her eyes again – what did she just say? She tilted her head back – what the hell was she doing? He blinked and shook his head to clear it. “What did you just say?” he rasped.

She lifted her head up and looked at him and repeated herself – and for emphasis, or to make sure she had his attention, she wrapped her hand around his now throbbing cock, “I said bite me. Taste me. I want you to.”

Bite her? Did she just say bite her? His cock throbbed harder in her hand as she began to stroke it. He almost leaned in and sank his fangs into her neck right then. He decided to play dumb instead, “Bite you? You mean you’re into S and M? Kinky shit? Why didn’t you say so?” he said, grinning and trying to show a lot more confidence than his nerve-wracked body was feeling right now.

“Don’t play dumb with me Colton Renner. I know what you are,” she said angrily.

“What I am? You mean a doctor? I told you I was,” he said, angry at himself for letting his voice crack as he said it.

She rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated now. “God you are stubborn, aren’t you? A vampire, okay? I know that you’re a vampire – and I want you to bite me. There, I said it. I know, okay? I know what you are, and I’m fine with it. I’m not scared. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to erase the memory of the best sex that I’ve ever had in my life? But God help you if you do because my body will remember it and it will hunt you down until I get it again, I guaran-damn-tee it, or are you going f*ck me the way you wanted to last night and bite me when you come?”

Colton smiled a wicked sex-smile at her, “How would you know it was the best sex you’ve ever had if you don’t remember anything about your sex life?”

“Oh trust me, Colton. I may not remember who I’ve had sex with, but my body would remember if I’ve ever had anything close to the mind-blowing sex that I had last night. And you’re not answering my question.”

“That’s because I haven’t decided yet,” he said.

Her jaw dropped, “You mean, you mean you might erase my memory? Why would you do that?”

His grin grew to epic proportions, “Because then I could give you the best sex you’ve ever had over and over and over and,” he said laughing when she smacked him on his arm.

She pulled him tight in her arms again, her wet body sliding against his and making his cock stand up and take notice again, “Would you just shut up and f*ck me again?” she said.

He laughed, “God, it really turns me on when you say that.” His mouth crushed down on hers and the passion between the two of them ignited instantly. His tongue danced around her, tasting her, while his nostrils flared as they smelled her arousal. And his cock? Well his cock was dancing around on her stomach just demanding some damn attention. Suddenly he stopped and stared at her.

“What’s wrong?” she said as her chest heaved.

“Why aren’t you afraid, Tess? I mean, I think if I just found out that something impossible really existed, I think I’d be a little freaked out. Why aren’t you?” he said.

“Now,” she mumbled, “He has to ask me now. Okay. Truth? I don’t know. Obviously in my normal life, my life that includes memories and shit, I must know about vampires I guess. Hell, maybe I even know some. That, and I feel totally safe with you. Protected. You won’t hurt me, ever,” she said then her hand came up and wrapped around his shaft again.

His eyes wanted to change to black – so he let them. A low growl erupted from his chest, “Woman, you are dangerous – you know that?” then his mouth crushed down on hers and she knew she had won him over.

She used her good leg to jump up and wrap her legs around him. He pressed the button with his elbow to shut off the water and carried her to the bed. He started to lie down on top of her but she stopped him with her hands on his chest. For a brief, panicked second he thought she had changed her mind. Instead she smiled and said, “Lie down.”

He did as directed, both anxious and excited to see what she had in store for him. She gingerly moved her ankle around so that she was on her hands and knees above him. He groaned as she slid the wet folds of her sex down the length of his shaft as she kissed her way down his chest and belly. Drops of pre-cum moistened her throat and the underside of her jaw as she kissed and licked his pelvis. She moved around the right side of his cock, slowly kissing and licking him until he groaned, “Tess, you are killing me.”

She smiled and reached a hand up to grab onto his shaft as she took first one ball into her mouth and then other. That right there almost made him shoot his load onto his belly. She continued her circle, kissing and licking next to the left side of his cock until he groaned. “Please,” he begged. Her hair tickled his balls as she finally brought her mouth over his swollen head. Her tongue swirled around the tip as her lips sealed themselves just below the ring and her hand squeezed the shaft tight. In perfect unison, her mouth and hand began to move up and down, while at the same time her tongue darted around his cock. He’d never felt anything like it and he was ready to burst at any second. His hands reached down to her hair and tried to pull her off, “Tess, you need to stop,”

She wouldn’t budge, “Uh-uh,” she mumbled, the sound vibrating through his cock.

“But, but, I’m gonna,Oh God, Tess, I can’t hold back much longer,” he said through clenched teeth.

She stopped and smiled at him, but only long enough to whisper, “Then don’t,” then her mouth closed down on him again and that was it – he cried out and arched his back, shoving his cock into the back of her throat as it began pumping his juices down her throat. He could feel her throat constricting as she matched every one of his pumps with a swallow. Her mouth milked every last drop out of him, and then her tongue cleaned off any that she missed – but there wasn’t much.

Colton growled as he sat up then in one swift move, he spun Tess around to her back and positioned his head between her legs. She groaned and took a handful of sheets into both hands. His mouth sucked in each lip one at a time, then moved up the center of her slit until it reached her now throbbing *. He flicked the swollen nub with his tongue then sucked it into his mouth.

******************************************

Oh my God, she thought she was going to come out of her skin. His teeth closed gently around her nub and then flicked it back and forth. “Holy f*ck,” she screamed, not caring who heard her. He released her throbbing * and moved down her wet slit to the eager hole that waited. He plunged his tongue deep inside and he could feel her muscles constricting already as she teetered on the brink. He removed his tongue and plunged a finger deep inside while pressing a thumb on her *. “Yes, yes,” she screamed as she moved closer and closer to the edge. “Tess, look at me,” he said to her. With great effort she managed to lift her head. As his hand expertly worked her, bringing her to the edge of the precipice but not quite allowing her to go over, he kissed the inside of her thigh. Then he smiled at her, his eyes changed to black, his fangs dropped and he gently pierced her thigh. “Oh f*ck yes! God, please let me come Colton. Now. I need to come now,” she moaned.

His fangs pulled out of her skin, much sooner than he wanted them to, as he whispered, “Your wish is my command, my lady.”

His finger continued to swirl on her engorged nub as his tongue replaced his finger in her hole. He wanted to taste her pleasure just as much as he had wanted to taste her blood. He needed to drink her in. She arched her back and cried out as her orgasm finally hit. Her juices flowed into his mouth as her muscles squeezed his tongue and tried to pull him in deeper. Pulsing, pulsing, she wasn’t sure that this one was ever going to stop.

****************************************** He groaned and almost spilled another load onto the bed when he tasted her blood for the first time, but this, the juices of her complete pleasure made it almost impossible to hold back. He waited though, until every last quiver from her sex was done, he waited. His cock throbbed and dripped pre-cum onto the comforter, but still he waited. She lay gasping on the bed, little spasms occasionally coursing through her body while he lapped up the remainder of her juices as they slowly oozed out of her hole. He smiled when she sat up and growled, “Colton Renner, if you don’t get up here and ram your cock into me right now, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”

“Far be it from me to force you to violence,” he said as he began crawling up the bed towards her. Her legs caught on his shoulders and as he moved to push them off, she said, “Leave them.”

He stopped for a moment. “But Tess. That’ll be too deep. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smiled at him, “Colton, just shut the hell up and f*ck me.”

He did, plunging in deep. Holy shit, she was so tight….and wet. She groaned as he plunged into her, “yes, yes,” she moaned. She shifted her legs so that they wrapped around his legs, then she drove him wild by scraping her fingernails down his back and grabbed onto his butt cheeks, squeezing with all of her might. He almost lost it right then, but he’d be damned if he came before she did. He brought his knees up underneath him so he could continue thrusting into her with a free hand – a hand that began squeezing her nub between his fingers. “Yes, yes,” she groaned then she opened her eyes and looked at him. His neck muscles were straining as he held back. She rolled her head to the side and pushed her hair out of the way, “Bite me, Colton. Bite me when I come,” she growled in a low throaty voice that that almost put him over the edge. Thankfully he felt her orgasm begin pulsing around his cock. He exploded and dropped forward, sinking his fangs into her neck. Their climaxes fused together as one and he could taste it in her blood. He didn’t want to weaken her though, so he released his fangs and licked the wounds clean – they would close in a few hours. He continued thrusting into her, slowing as her pulses slowed. Then he collapsed on top of her, enjoying the little aftershocks of pleasure that kept coursing through her and squeezing his cock.

******************************************

She was light-headed, she was dizzy and she was so incredibly satisfied. Oh, and most of her memory had come back. She still couldn’t remember that night – but she could remember everything else about her life, including where she lived…..but she wasn’t ready to tell him that – because she was afraid that he would make her leave and that was something that she definitely didn’t want. She had finally managed to catch her breath so she began extricating herself from him. She gently unwrapped her legs, being careful to not hurt her ankle then she reluctantly unwrapped her arms – and what she saw made her gasp. She knew she had scraped her fingernails down his back – but she didn’t realize that she had done it so hard that she drew blood. But there it was, glistening brightly on the tips of her fingers – and a large drop started running down the middle finger of her left hand, sparkling at her, inviting her, saying ‘taste me’. She was so curious. She already tasted his salty, sweet semen – she would put money that his blood would taste just as good – even though she’d never been one to like the taste of blood before. She felt like Alice in Wonderland here – but something about his blood just screamed ‘drink me’. Her tongue came out of her mouth as her finger moved closer. Everything in her body began tingling in anticipation but just before her finger and tongue made contact, Colton grabbed her wrist and whispered, “Don’t.”

It was one tiny word but it was filled with so much sadness and heartache, such complete devastation.

Then he licked the blood off of her fingers and sat up on the edge of the bed with his back to her, his shoulder slumped and his head down. She was afraid to move – but she was also afraid not to. She watched him for a moment, fascinated, as the scratches on his back simply disappeared. She leaned up on one elbow and reached her hand out to touch his arm. He bristled and hissed as if her fingers were hot pokers but then he relaxed slightly as her fingers lightly caressed his arm. “Colton?” she whispered.

“I’m not ready to talk about it,” he whispered.

“Did, did I do something wrong?” she stammered.

His head whipped around and he cupped his hand to her cheek, “No! Absolutely not. Please don’t think that. It’s just that what you did reminded me of a very difficult time in my life. And you can’t mess around with vampire blood. It’s very dangerous stuff for humans. You take the high that junkies get from the strongest drugs on earth – heroin, opiates, pain killers, anything – roll them all into one and multiply the high times a hundred and maybe you’d come close to the powerful effects vampire blood has on a human – and that’s just one drop. You don’t want to drink this stuff unless you’re serious – unless you’re going to be turned – otherwise the addiction will consume you. I know, I’ve seen it happen.”

******************************************He wasn’t ready to talk about it. Shit, it had been almost eighty years since it happened. When exactly did he think that he’d actually be ready to talk about it? He’d never be ready, but she deserved to know that his freak out had nothing to do with her. He lay down on his back, covered his bottom half with the sheet and his eyes with his arm – he knew he couldn’t make eye contact with her when he told her. He wouldn’t be able to handle the pity or the sadness in them. And he knew it would be there, it should be there, but he couldn’t handle seeing it there. He smiled slightly as she began caressing her fingers over his stomach. “The last time I made love to a woman was, well, it was a long time ago.”

“How long, Colton?” she whispered.

“You don’t want to know,” he said, smiling.

She sounded way to serious as she said, “Yes, I do.”

He dropped his arm and looked at her, “No secrets?” he said and she nodded and then swallowed hard.

His arm moved back up and covered his eyes again. “Okay, no secrets. I haven’t made love to a woman in seventy eight years.”

Her fingers hesitated slightly on his stomach then resumed caressing. “You haven’t had sex in almost eighty years and you still performed the way you did for me? That’s freaking impressive, Colton.”

“I didn’t say I hadn’t had sex. I said that I hadn’t made love,” he whispered.

“Oh,” she said then she took a deep breath, “Okay, tell me what happened.”

“Her name was, L, L, Lisette. She was beautiful, spontaneous, fun, full of life – she was the sunshine in my dark existence. She knew what I was and yet she still loved me with all of her heart. We were together for almost two years, we were engaged to be married, and she was ready to go through the change so that we could be together forever. I was so happy. I was so in love. And then the night before we were going to turn her, she asked to taste my blood when we were making love. At first I told her no, but she argued and begged. “Let me see just one time what it feels like when I’m human. Tomorrow I’ll be vampire and then it won’t matter,” she told me. I gave in, how could I not? I loved her. I gave her a small taste from my wrist – just a few drops - and I thought she was fine – she seemed fine. But the next morning, when I returned from feeding, she was gone. The addiction had such a strong hold on her already that she had run off and gone underground.”

“Gone underground?”

“That what we call the darkest part of vampire society. She roamed the seediest alleys and the dirtiest clubs searching for vampires who would feed her addiction. And she would do anything to get it. I found her several times but she always fought me and ran away. She went back to the whoring, the blow jobs, the sex – all for vampire blood. She was killed a few months later by a rogue vampire who got too rough during sex – he broke her neck…..so I broke his, right before I tore his head off.”

He felt her shiver slightly at his last statement – she should, it was only natural for a human. But then she rolled closer to him to hug him and kiss his chest, “I’m so sorry, Colton. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Colton hugged her and kissed the top of her head, “You’re the only one who knows that story, Tess. I want you to know that.”

“Hansen doesn’t know?”

“No. Hansen saw it happen but I was never able to tell him the whole story, he just knew that she ran off and left me, he never really knew why – and I haven’t been able to talk about it.”

She laid her head back on his chest and just lazily caressed it for a few minutes. He thought he might doze off until she whispered, “Colton?”

“Yes, Tess?”

“No secrets, right?”

He tensed slightly, “Right. Why?”

She lifted her head up and rested her chin on her closed fist on his chest, “Because I kind of got most of my memory back,” she said, and then he saw her cringe, almost like she was afraid that he would be mad at her. Why the hell would she be afraid of that?

“What do you mean ‘most’ of it? And when did you get it back?”

“Well, it kind of all came back with that last orgasm you gave me and….”

“You’re welcome,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

She smiled and continued, “And by most of it I mean I remember my life, my work, where I live. But I don’t remember that night, yet.”

“Why did you wait until now to tell me?” he said.

She leaned her ear back on his chest to listen to the strong thump, thump of his heart rather than looking him in the eye, “I don’t want to tell you that,” she mumbled.

******************************************His fingers cradled her chin and brought her face up to his – but like a stubborn child, she had her eyes squeezed shut – and she was blushing from head to toe – and her heart, Dear God, her heart was racing.

“Tess, open your eyes. Look at me, Tess,” he said in his best ‘I’m a sexy vampire and you have to do what I want’ voice.

“Colton, I’m afraid to tell you,” she whispered and, f*ck, her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid she was going to bounce off the bed.

He looked at her like a stern father, “Tess – why would you be afraid to tell me that you got your memory back?”

“B,b,because I don’t want you to send me home, okay? I’m not ready to. I don’t want to go. But that sounds so pathetic and needy and f*cking clingy and I can’t believe I just said it.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms tightly around her, “Tess, you are not going anywhere,” he said.

She breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted her here. He wanted her to stay….until he said:

“It’s not safe for you to go home until we find out who did this to you.”

She couldn’t hide her disappointment. She turned her ear back to his chest to try to hide it and whispered, “Oh.”

She felt him shift on the bed. He flipped her over so that she was underneath him. He smoothed the hair down on her head as he said, “Tess. You’re staying here until we find whoever did this to you and then, after that, well I’m definitely open to suggestions. But let’s wait to figure that out later, okay? I don’t want anything to distract me from my duty to protect you and bring your attacker to justice.”

He leaned down to kiss her again but had to stop when there was a knock on the door. He grinned down at Tess and said, “Hansen’s been pacing outside that door for over an hour. I should probably let him in. Plus, you’re hungry, you need to eat.”

“I’m hungry? I didn’t even know that yet, not really. How did you?”

“I can hear that your stomach is, ummm, empty. Why don’t we head downstairs? We can get you something to eat and then I can talk to Hansen about this wolf and try to find out how it got in. Okay?”

Tess nodded her head. Colton jumped up, went to the closet and grabbed a bathrobe for Tess. He tossed it to her on the bed then he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and slid them on. He walked to the edge of the bed and offered her his hand to help her stand. She took one look at his chest and said, “You really should put on a shirt, you know.”

“Me? Why? I don’t get cold.”

“I know you don’t get cold. But look at you. How the hell am I supposed to keep my hands off of you when you look like that?”

Colton looked surprised for a moment. Could he really not know how f*cking hot he was, she thought. Then he surprised her by saying, “Oh. Don’t.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Don’t? Don’t what?” she whispered. Her heart started pounding – she was afraid he was saying ‘Don’t touch me.’

The twinkle in his eye and the sly, sexy smile told her she was wrong before he even opened his mouth, “Don’t keep your hands off of me,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she hugged him tight.

“For what? For letting you touch me? Believe me, the pleasure’s all mine. I should be thanking you.”

“No, not that. Thank you for helping me to feel good again. I’ve been lost for years, Colton. My readings never made any sense; they sent me in a thousand different directions. None of my spells helped clear up the confusion. I had no idea what I’ve been searching for, what I’ve been yearning for. Now I know. I’ve been searching for you, somehow my inner-self knew you were out here somewhere. It guided me here – it led me to your woods when I escaped. Don’t freak out on me – I’m not talking some lifetime commitment or love here. Hell, we’ve only known each other for less than a week. But what we shared, what you’ve given me, is peace. I’m at peace now. I don’t need anything more from you, I’m content now,” she said as she felt a tear slide out of her eye. This was a huge emotional release for her. She knew that he would probably close up emotionally and push her away, but that was okay – or so she tried to tell herself.



He had listened to all of this and tried not to react. He didn’t want her to think that he was reacting to the wrong parts. Yes, it was frightening to hear her round-about way of saying that she was in love with him. He had shut himself off so completely to the emotional world that he wasn’t sure that he was capable of love anymore. She had shown him otherwise. And he was surprised at how easy it was, how natural it felt, to love her. And he did love her, he knew that. It terrified and thrilled him at the same time. But that’s not was he was trying to not react to. It was the other part. The part about readings and spells. She was a witch. That explained a lot. Actually, it explained everything. It explained how she was able to pull him to her – even if she didn’t realize that she was doing it. And it explained why the wolves had chosen her – and he had no doubt that they had targeted her. A werewolf with magical abilities? The only thing stronger would be a vampire with magical abilities. A werewolf-witch would give them powers that he shuddered to think of. He knew then that he had to tell her everything – even though it would probably trigger her memories of the kidnapping and rape. He unwrapped his arms from her, turned and sat on the bed, “You’re a witch,” he whispered.

“Yeah, and you’re a vampire. You got a problem with witches? What? Are you a racist vampire?” she said defensively.

He smiled sadly at her, “No, Tess, I’m not a racist vampire and I don’t have a problem with witches. But I do have a problem with werewolves – at least with werewolves who kidnap witches and try to turn them into super-werewolves.”

He watched her eyes as her brain registered what he had just said. He watched as recognition flashed in them. He watched as the terror of the attack forced itself from her repressed memories and into living, excruciating color. She screamed, “No!” Then she turned and crawled to the other side of the bed, trying desperately not to get away from him, but from the memories. He knew her instinct would be to run, but he also knew that her ankle would prevent her from doing it. The second both feet hit the floor, she cried out in pain and then fell to the floor on her hands and knees. He got up and walked around to her. Her lungs were desperately trying to pull in air, but she was hyper-ventilating. She was gasping for breath and trying to sob at the same time. He squatted next to her and reached his hand out to hers. She swatted his hand away and rasped, “Don’t touch me!” Then she fell over onto her side and curled up into a ball as the sobs finally broke free. She sobbed, she wailed actually, but she didn’t protest as he picked her up and cradled her to his chest. She cried endlessly, her tears raining down his stomach and arms, as the moment of the attack played over and over in her head, like some cruel scene-looped joke. He knew that nothing he could say right now would help, but he had to try. “Shhhhh, it’s going to be okay, Tess. I promise. I’m going to take care of you.”

Suddenly her head shot up and she slapped him across the face, hard. His cheek stung and he had tears in his eyes. He rubbed his cheek as she started screaming at him.

“You! You knew that would trigger the memory. You made me remember, you son of a bitch. God damn it, why did you do that?” she hissed.

“I’m sorry, Tess. I really am. It’s just that you need to know what’s going on here. This is huge. This threatens not only humans but vampires too. If he had been able to turn you – well, a werewolf/witch would definitely have been a threat to our existence. But if he had impregnated you when he turned you? There’s no telling how strong that child’s powers would have been. A hybrid like that would wreak havoc on all species’. And if that hybrid had created more hybrids? It would probably mean the end of all humans and vampires alike. Whoever decided to try this has violated just about every law, written and unwritten, that both vampires and werewolves have. I need to know who this alpha male is because he has to be stopped, and soon, before he tries this again – with you or any other witch out there.”

She climbed out of his lap and hugged her knees to her chin as she sat on the bed, turning her face away from him as she rested her chin on her knee, “That still doesn’t change the fact that you made me remember,” she whispered as she started rocking back and forth, “I don’t want to remember this, Colton. Do you know what they did to me? Do you realize how horrible it was? God, I can smell the musty stink from the room. I can feel every pain from what he and the others did to me. Jesus, Colton, I can’t handle this. You’re a vampire, can you make my memories go away? Can you make me forget again? Please?”

He reached for her but she cringed so he pulled back his hand. “I can, but it would take away the memories of last night. It would take away the memories of us. Do you still want me to do it, Tess? Do you want to forget the attack and everything that we’ve shared together?”

She turned her head and stared at him, “You’re shitting me, right? In order to continue feeling for you the way that I’m feeling now, I have to choose to keep remembering the worst thing that’s ever happened to me? How can I be with you when that image is in my head? How can I be with anyone?”

“You could tell me what happened, Tess. Maybe talking about it will help a little?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, “I, I, I can’t talk about it. It probably would help, but I can’t tell you all the vile and disgusting things that they did to me.”

“You can show me Tess. You can tell me what happened without saying a word.”

“How can I do that?” she whispered.

“Think about it and let me bite you. If you’re thinking about something at the moment that I bite you, those memories will flow into me. It might help lessen the pain, it’ll pass some of it to me. Let me help you hurt less, please Tess?”

She stared at him for a few moments with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.



She had to think about what he was asking. On the one hand she knew that talking about what had happened to her would help her to heal. But did she really want him to know what had happened? Did she really want to share that much of herself with him? What if he couldn’t look at her the same way again? What if he thought she was weak? What if he thought that she had somehow brought this on herself? What if he didn’t love her anymore? Love? What the hell was she thinking? Did she really think that he loved her? Already? “Where do you see this going, Colton? You, me, us – what do you think the future holds for us? Or is there even an us in the future?”

He rested his hand on her forearm, pleased that she didn’t shy away from his touch this time, “I hope that there is an us, Tess. I would like that very much. Look, I know we haven’t known each other for a very long time, but you’ve got to understand that for a vampire, time is irrelevant. We can take weeks, months, years even, to fall in love or it can happen in days, minutes. And when we do fall, it is completely, it is totally, it is head over heels, hopelessly in love. We put a lot of stock in controlling our emotions but when we meet someone who is able to break through that wall, well, there is no halfway with us. We’re either all in or all out. And with this, here, with us, I’m definitely all in, Tess.”

“But what if you feel differently after you see it? What if you don’t want me anymore?” she whispered.

His hand moved to her chin, he gently lifted it and waited until she met his eyes with hers. “What’s your last name?”

“What?”

“Tess, what is your last name?” he said.

“Hamilton, why?”

“Well, Tess Hamilton, you are the most beautiful, desirable woman that I’ve ever met in my eight hundred and sixty three years on this earth, and nothing, absolutely nothing in your memories will ever change that. I’ve seen the crap that these werewolves can do, so I already had a pretty good idea of what happened to you Tess and I still fell in love with you and I still want you. In fact, keeping my hands off of you is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face.”

That got a small smile from her – and that warmed his heart. She rested her head on her knees and kept eye contact with him, “It’s bad Colton. It’s ugly, it’s disgusting and it’s bad. Are you sure you want to see it?”

He nodded, “Absolutely, Tess. Show me your pain. Let me take some of it away.”

As she stuck her wrist out to him she said, “Do me a favor? If this changes how you look at me, how you feel about me, tell me now, okay? Don’t drag it out, Colton. I’ll understand if you can’t handle it. Hell, I can’t handle it. I won’t blame you and I won’t hate you, just let me walk away now before my heart gets any deeper into this. Promise me that, please?”

“I promise, Tess. But the only thing that’s going to change after this is that I’m going to love you even more than I do right now. Now, as soon as I pierce your skin, think about what happened. Relive the entire thing in your head. Don’t hide anything. Don’t leave anything out. I’ll be as gentle as I can, but this will feel a little different because we’re not having sex. There will be a small sting.”

She nodded then inhaled sharply as his teeth broke the surface of her skin. As she felt her blood begin to flow into his mouth, she felt the tears falling from her eyes as she thought back to that night.



Colton tried not to react as the first memory flooded into his brain, but his head jerked as he saw her getting hit on the back of the head as she locked up her store at night. As she remembered falling to the ground and getting kicked in the ribs, Tess watched, fascinated, as Colton’s body jerked to the side – almost as if he had just been kicked in the ribs too. His eyes flew open as she remembered coming to as she was being dragged into an abandoned house. His eyes were black and filled with rage as she remembered the glimpses of carnage and brutality that she saw in the rooms that they passed. There was blood and body parts everywhere. He coughed and spit out a little blood across her arm as, in her memory, she saw herself gag at the horrible stench of death that surrounded her. His free hand flew to his knees as she saw herself being flung onto the hard cement floor on all fours. He cringed, growled and whimpered as her wrists and ankles were bound by ropes that were attached to metal rings that were embedded in the floor. He flinched and almost pulled away from her wrist as her pants were undone and roughly pulled down to her knees, leaving her ass exposed to the world. He whimpered and cried out as the boot came down on her head, pinning it to the floor and the hot poker with the wolf brand was pulled from the fireplace in the corner of the room and pressed into the back of her neck – causing her to scream and cry out. He growled as he heard male voices arguing around her: ‘Don’t touch her, she’s for the alpha male only,’ one voice said, followed by an angry growling voice that said, ‘He won’t be back for a while. Just look at that ass. Don’t you just want to grab hold and ride it?’ Colton cringed again as he felt Tess’ fear as a rough hand reached out and caressed her naked behind. She sank her butt down to try to protect herself from his touch. The rough hands jerked her hips up, “Keep that ass up or I’ll beat the shit out of you, bitch!”

Tess yanked, pulled and fought with the ropes as the two males continued arguing around her, ‘You idiot. He’ll smell you on her. He’ll tear you apart. Get yourself under control, Damon.’

Another growl, followed by some scuffling and finally, ‘Fine. You watch her, I’m going to go find someone who can take care of this hard on.’

Tess’ butt sank back to her legs as she heard the angry one storm out of the room. She watched the feet of the other as he walked to the chair in the corner and sat down. “Stop fighting the ropes. You aren’t going to break free and you’re only cutting into your skin,” he said.

“Please, let me go,” she whimpered.

“It’ll all be over soon. Just don’t fight it. It’ll be better for you if you don’t.”

Colton could hear the thoughts of the wolf in the corner: ‘Hopefully this one will survive. If he times’ the bite just right. That’s what killed the others. His timing is off. He’s biting too late and we can’t get him out of the room before he tears them up.’

Colton whimpered on Tess’ wrist as he thought, ‘Others? There were others? Dear God, how many others?’ It was the same thought Tess had when she saw the body parts strewn throughout the other rooms – ‘That’s going to happen to me if I can’t get out of here.’

Colton felt Tess’ body relax and a peaceful calm came over her as she stopped fighting her situation and started to figure a way out. She closed out the world around her and began softly reciting a spell incantation under her breath. He watched, proudly, as she kept that calm and focus on the spell even as the alpha male entered the room. “Good. She is ready. This one is very fertile. Do it right, this time, Marcos. Push me out the door as soon as I bite her and come.”

“Yes sir,” said the voice in the corner.

Tess’ breath hitched briefly when she heard the man behind her undo his zipper – but Colton felt her say to herself ‘Don’t lose focus now’ and she continued reciting her spell. He felt the knots loosen on the ropes at her ankles, saw them begin to unravel at her wrists, as her magic began to work. Even as the alpha-male dropped to his knees and shoved himself roughly inside of her, she didn’t lose her calm. The ropes silently fell off of her wrists as he grabbed her hips and pounded into her. She heard the cracking of his bones as he began to shift. The rope fell from one of her ankles and she knew that this was her only chance. As he leaned down and tried to bite her, and right before he climaxed, her elbow swung around and clocked him on the side of the head, just at the upper cheek bone, and the foot that was free swung up between his legs, smashing his nuts and any hope that he had for an orgasm. In the mayhem that followed, the man in the corner instinctively went to help his alpha-male, who was curled onto his side on the floor howling in agony. Tess jumped up, yanked the ankle that was still tied so hard that her tendons tore, and ran out of the house as fast as she could. Adrenaline kept her running for miles through the woods that surrounded the house, until she came to a clearing and saw Colton’s house.

Tears streamed from Colton’s eyes as his tongue moved over the bite marks to help them heal then he kissed it a few times. He looked up and saw that Tess’ face was turned away – she didn’t want to look at him after what he had seen. His hand cupped her chin and brought her gaze back to his, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen Tess Hamilton. It makes me proud to have such an incredibly strong woman by my side,” he said as he leaned in to kiss her. She had prepared for the worst, what he gave her was his best. Her heart melted at his tenderness. She wanted this kiss to last forever, but she couldn’t hold back the sobs that needed to come out. He felt them too and pulled her into his arms, whispering into her hair, “I’m going to kill every one of those bastards, you know that, right?”

That brought a small smile to her face and she hugged him tighter. Colton lifted his head from Tess’ shoulder and looked at her, “Now, I’d love nothing more than to make love to you right now, but with all of the emotions coursing through me there’s no way I’d be able to stop myself from biting, and as much as we both might like that, you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning. We need to get some fuel into you to replenish your blood supply, because believe me sweetheart, you’re going to need it tonight. You’re going to be walking funny after I’m done with you, if you’ll let me.”

“I’m already walking funny – bad ankle, remember?” she’s said, smiling through her tears.

“Touche,” he said as he climbed off of the bed. He held his arms out to her, “Allow me?”

As she walked over to him on her knees she smiled and said, “Are you ever going to let me, let me, whoa, head rush.”

The doctor in him took over immediately. He scooped her into his arms, “Let your head fall back, Tess,” he said as he tilted her body so that her feet were higher than her head. He turned towards the door, “Hansen,” he called out. The door opened a few seconds later, “Sir?”

“We need steak and eggs for breakfast, please,” Colton said.

“Yes, sir.” Hansen turned and walked quickly down the stairs, followed closely behind by Colton and Tess.

Tess’ head lolled to one side as she hovered precariously close to unconsciousness. “Stay with me Tess. Come on. Look at me. Focus. Don’t you f*cking leave me,” he said as he shook her slightly, trying to bring her out of her stupor.

He set her on the couch in the living room, just across the hall from the kitchen, and sat next to her. Hansen emerged from the kitchen carrying a glass of orange juice and a wet wash cloth, “Steak is on the grill. Should be done in about ten minutes, Sir.”

“Thank you, Hansen. In the meantime, do you have any crackers or something?”

“Certainly, Sir,” he said as he swept out of the room.

Colton mopped her forehead with the damp cloth then slid his arm underneath her neck – lifting her head slightly. “Come on honey, drink this. It’ll help you feel better.”

Her eyes rolled in her head then slowly came around to focus on Colton’s face as she took a sip from the glass. He smiled at her as he dabbed a drop from the corner of her mouth. “This is stupid,” she mumbled, slurring her words.

“No. This is human. And we need to be more careful,” he said as he tilted the glass to her lips again. Hansen walked into the room carrying a box of wheat crackers. “Five more minutes on breakfast, Sir.”

“I don’t know if I can eat. I’m feeling nauseous,” Tess mumbled.

Colton reached into the box of crackers and pulled a few out, “Try these. I’m sure you’re just nauseous because your stomach is so empty. Once you start eating I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Thirty minutes later, Tess picked up her empty plate and started licking the egg yolk off of it. She smiled at Colton over the top of the plate, “Guess you were right. I was starving.”

“Lucky plate,” Colton said, smiling.

“I’ve got plenty of tongue left, you want some?” she teased as she set the plate down and leaned towards Colton.

“God, more than anything,” Colton said as he put his hands on her shoulders to hold her away.

“But?” she said.

“But, I need to ask you something first.”

Tess sat back against the couch, eyeing Colton warily. Out of the corner of her eye, Tess could see Hansen hovering near the door of the kitchen – this must be important.

“The alpha male that attacked you, did you get a look at him at all? His face, his feet, his hands, anything?”

Tess’ first instinct was to get angry – how dare he bring this up again. What right did he have to force her to think about it yet again? She automatically lashed out at him, “Gee, I don’t know Colton. Do you think my first thought as a total stranger shoved himself into me from behind was ‘hey you, let me get a look at you and see what your face looks like’? Yeah, that was what my reaction was. It wasn’t to try to get the f*ck out of there – it was to see what he looked like.”

Tess could see that she’d hurt Colton and she felt bad, but she was still pissed.

Colton gently placed his hand on her forearm, “That’s not what I meant Tess. Do you remember last night – I mean before we made love? Remember the wolf that was in the hall? That wasn’t a wolf, Tess. It was a werewolf. Hansen and I, we killed it. It’s downstairs in the basement in his human form. I doubt the alpha would enter into a vampire’s home – it’s probably a lesser male that the alpha sent to make sure you were still human – but I want to be sure. I thought that if you got a look at some part of him, we could rule out that the a*shole downstairs isn’t the prick who attacked you.”

Tess’ anger evaporated – her heart actually swelled a bit at the venom that was spewing from Colton when he spoke about her attacker. Colton was almost as angry about Tess being attacked as she was herself. Almost. The flash of an image popped into her head. “His forearm. He had a tattoo, some sort of dragon tattoo, on his right forearm,” she said.

Colton glanced quickly at Hansen. Hansen turned and quickly headed towards the basement as Colton wrapped his arms around Tess. “Good job, hun. You did great,” Colton said into her neck as he kissed her. A moment later Hansen was back at the door, shaking his head. “It wasn’t him, Tess,” he whispered.

Colton felt her tense in his arms – but she was silent. Something was on her mind, he could tell. So he just held her and waited.

“Colton?” she whispered.

“Hmmm?”

“What did you mean ‘he was checking to see if I was still human’?” she said.

Now it was Colton’s turn to tense up. He pulled away from Tess and looked into her eyes. “Oh, that. Well, you are living in a vampire home right now, Tess. A witch, they want. A vampire witch would be a danger to every one of them. He sent a scout to see if I’d turned you.”

“Oh,” Tess responded then she fell silent again. Colton knew she’d have more questions – but she needed more time to think first.

They spent the day doing a few things around the house – Colton took out the stitches in her head and leg. He re-examined her ankle and showed her a few exercises she could do to help it heal. Hansen and Colton tossed the were-body into the furnace – reducing him to dust – while Tess soaked in the tub upstairs. When she came down the stairs, glowing from the steaming bath and wearing Colton’s robe and a big smile on her face – Colton’s heart swelled. Hansen was standing next to Colton as he watched her slowly and gingerly descend the stairs. “She’s staying, isn’t she, Sir?” Hansen whispered quiet enough for only Colton’s ears.

“I hope so, Hansen. And I hope you will too, in spite of that.”

“I’ll try, Sir,” Hansen grumbled then he raised the volume on his voice so that Tess would hear as he said, “Shouldn’t you go feed tonight Sir? It’s been a few nights since you’ve had a proper meal.”

Colton winced. Hansen was right. He needed to be at top strength until this werewolf problem was dealt with. Tess’ foot hesitated for a moment on the bottom step. Her head tilted to the side slightly. “Hansen is right. You do need more than just my blood. But why did that make me feel a twinge of jealousy? You’re just drinking blood,” she said.

Colton smiled, “That’s because when I drink your blood it’s during an, ummm, intimate experience. When I drink from others, I assure you, it’s not. And I only drink from men, usually drunk men, so it’s definitely not.”

Tess’ blushed slightly, “Oh, you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Can I come with you, to, you know, watch?”

Colton stared at her for a moment. Was she serious? Nobody had ever asked him this - not even Lisette. His first instinct had been to say no, but then he realized that he actually wanted to share it with her, he wanted to share everything with her. “When your ankle’s better you can, okay?”

Tess looked down at the bulky boot on her lower leg, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

“If you forgot about it then it must be feeling better.”

“A little, plus I’ve gotten used to the pain sort of.”

Colton frowned at this, “I don’t like hearing that. Tess, if you’re in pain, you need to tell me.”

“If it’s really bad I will. But a high tolerance for pain is something I’ve had my whole life. Dealing with pain just comes naturally to me.”

“Geez, Tess. How much pain have you had to deal with in your life? Was it bad?”

Tess smiled at him, “I wasn’t beaten as a child, if that’s what you’re thinking. I was just a little over-zealous when it came to spells and magic. I never took the time to learn first before I tried. Just jumped into the deep end, as it were, which made for a lot of doctor visits – stitches and such.”

Colton reached out and took her hand in his, bringing it to her lips and kissing it gently. “I love your spirit, Tess. I’ll be back in a few hours. Please stay indoors. Don’t open any windows. Hansen will have the house locked up tight and the alarm on. You’ll be safe with him.”

“Oh, I know I will. Hansen and I will hang out and get to know each other. It’ll be fun,” Tess said, smiling and discretely winking at Colton.

The surprised look on Hansen’s face was priceless. Colton squeezed her hand then kissed her temple, whispering, “Thanks,” as he did. He was out the door before she could respond. Tess stared at Hansen’s tense back as he locked the door and set the alarm. Without turning around he mumbled, “Is there anything I can get you before I head to my room?”

“I meant what I said, Hansen. I’d like to sit and get to know each other for a little while if you don’t mind. Maybe we could have some tea together. Can you drink tea?” she said.

Hansen turned around and stared at her, “Yes I can drink tea. But you don’t want to know me, Miss.”

“I don’t? Why not?”

“Because I’m bad news, Miss. I could kill you with one kiss in an instant.”

Tess moved to the couch, sat down and patted the seat next to her, “Then let’s agree – no kisses. Okay?”

Tess’ heart warmed as she saw the corners of his pursed lips rise just slightly – probably the closest thing to a smile that he could muster. Hansen stepped toward the kitchen, “I’ll make the tea,” he said as he stepped through the door.

He emerged a few minutes later carrying a silver tray with tea service for two. He set it on the coffee table and started fussing with serving her – trying to keep himself busy so that he didn’t have to sit and talk.

“Hansen, sit down, please? I won’t bite if you won’t”

Hansen turned and slowly sat down as he mumbled, “I don’t bite.”

“So, you’re not a vampire?” Tess said.

Hansen shook his head, “I am not.”

“But you’re not human, correct?”

“I am not.”

“What are you?” Tess asked.

Hansen pursed his lips. Tess could tell that she’d made him uncomfortable. She quickly tried to back pedal, “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

“It’s just that I don’t like to say it out loud. I’ve never even said it to Master.”

“You call Colton, Master and Sir. Is that because he created you?”

“Oh God no! Master could never create something this evil, this horrible. No, he is my Master because he is my teacher. He has taught me how to control my ways, how to not be a danger to society. Without him I cannot control my urges. Without him I would become an insane killing monster.”

“And you’re afraid that if he has someone in his life, someone like me, that he won’t have a need to keep you around. That’s why you don’t like me,” Tess whispered.

Hansen’s guilty gaze turned briefly to Tess before he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Tess placed her hand gently on his forearm, “You don’t have to worry, Hansen. There’s more than enough room in Colton’s life and his heart for both of us.”

Hansen gasped, looked down at Tess’ hand – which she quickly pulled away – then up at her face.

“What is it?” she said.

“You asked me what I am. I am what is called a Devourer. That’s how I remain immortal. I suck the life out of somebody with a kiss and use it to rejuvenate. When you touched me just now, I sense an incredible life force in you, but there’s something else. Something deeper, hidden beneath so many levels that I can’t quite reach it – but it felt like deception.”

“I’m not trying to deceive anyone, Hansen. I swear I’m not.”

Hansen looked into her eyes and saw nothing but truth in them….but still….

“Do not hurt Master Colton. I fear he could not bear another heartbreak – it would kill him.”

“I have no intention of doing that, Hansen. I realize I’ve only known him briefly, but I feel a connection to him unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I truly feel like we are meant to be together.”

Tess held her hand out to Hansen, “Would you like to try reading me again? I’m certain that it wasn’t deception that you felt.”

Hansen looked at her hand like it was diseased, “I cannot touch you again. I am too hungry. It’s past time for me to feed again.”

Tess put her hand back in her lap, “Oh. How often do you need to feed?”

“Thanks to Master Colton’s teachings, once a year.”

“But before you met Colton, you fed more. A lot more,” it was a statement, not a question.

“Yes, I did. I was never trained when I was turned. I was created and then my maker abandoned me. I am hungry all the time, I feel the need to feed every moment of every day. Without training, I thought that I had to feed that hunger always, so I did. Weekly, daily, hourly, I killed with reckless abandon, terrified of death and yet hating what I had become. Master Colton changed all that for me.”

“How long had you been a Devourer when you met him?”

Hansen squeezed his eyes shut. Tess could see the pain written all over his face as she waited for his answer, “Fifty years,” he whispered.

Tess gasped, she couldn’t help it. “Fifty years? Oh my God. Hansen, how many people did you kill?”

He looked at her. There was hatred in his eyes, but she knew that it was hatred at himself, not her, “I have no idea, a hundred-thousand?, Half a million? A million? It could be just about anything.”

Tess started to reach for him but stopped herself, “I’m so sorry Hansen.”

“Don’t be. I’ve learned to live with it.”

“How do you choose someone to, ummmm, feed off of now?”

Hansen smiled, actually smiled, “I find someone who is dying. Someone who is suffering a horribly painful death – cancer, aids, dementia. I find them and put them out of their misery. I alleviate the pain.”

“And the effect of their life force isn’t diminished because they are close to the end of it?”

Hansen shook his head, “A life force is a life force, whether at the beginning of life, the middle or the end. They all have the same effect on me. That’s something else that Master Colton taught me.”

“So you went from being an evil monster to some sort of angel of mercy? That’s quite an accomplishment.”

“I suppose you could look at it that way. But I can never un-do what I did in those first fifty years. That will haunt me until I take my last breath.”

“Do you have a girlfriend or a wife?”

Hansen laughed, “Me? Who could put up with this life? There are very few others of my kind, and they are vicious cruel. And I can’t safely bed a human unless I’ve recently fed. I would have to find someone who was okay with only having sex one week or so a year. So, to answer your question, no companion for me.”

Tess opened her mouth to ask him another question, but he held his hand up as his head turned towards the windows. “Shhhh, we have company,” he whispered.

Tess looked towards the windows – not only was it pitch black outside, but the curtains were drawn as well. “What is it?” she whispered.

“Wolves,” he whispered as he crept silently to the window to peak out. Without turning to look at her he whispered, “Call him to you.”

“Call him to me? I don’t have his phone number.”

“Not with a phone. The way you pulled him to you before. With your mind, with your magic,” he said.

“I, I, I don’t know how I did that.”

Hansen finally broke his gaze from the window and looked at her, “You needed him, Tess. You needed him desperately and that need pulled him to you,” his gaze returned to the window as he continued, “You need him to protect you now because there’s no way I can fight off eight wolves by myself. We’re as good as dead if he doesn’t come now.”

“E,e,e,eight?” Tess mumbled as her heart began racing in her chest. Terrified, she instinctively called out to Colton in her mind to come and save her, to keep her safe as he had been doing since she got here.

“At least eight, there could be more farther back in the woods,” Hansen whispered

“Oh God,” Tess groaned.



A rat scurried down the opposite wall of the dank alley as Colton drank from the vein of the inebriated man in his grasp. The man’s arms hung limply at his sides as the hypnotic trance of the feeding took hold of him. Suddenly both Colton and the man were shoved, hard, into the wall behind them. Colton quickly released his fangs, licked the wounds to close them then shoved the man through the door, back into the dimly lit bar that he had come from to have his cigarette. This time Colton didn’t need to look around to try to find out who had shoved him. He had felt this twice before and knew it now. This was Tess. She was in danger and she needed him, she needed him now. Without hesitation, he jumped into the sky and took flight – something he very rarely did for fear of being seen. But it was faster than running – and it would give him the element of surprise over the wolves. He covered the distance home in under two minutes then he circled, silently, over his home, surveying the area and assessing the situation. His sharp vision picked up at least a dozen wolves slowly approaching his home, moving very slowly so that they didn’t trigger the motion sensors. Clever little bastards, Colton thought. Well, we just can’t have that he thought as he grabbed the tails of his overcoat and began spinning in a circle – creating a mini-tornado. As he dropped lower in the sky, the wind began picking up things off of the ground: chairs, lawn ornaments, leaves, branches, and eventually, dogs. There were a few yelps as they were flung through the air and then came into contact, hard contact with large objects: trees or the side of his house. As this began outside, Hansen had sprung into action inside by moving Tess down to the basement and into the safe room. Nobody could penetrate the safe room’s steel door or break the code on the lock. And only two people knew the code - Colton and Hansen – or had the fingerprints or retina scans necessary to access the code key. Tess only had a few minutes to marvel at the technology and complete supply of necessities in the room designed to keep human, life-sucker or vampire alive for months before she heard the door unlock and watched as it slowly slid open – revealing Colton, out of breath but otherwise unharmed, on the other side.

“Are you two okay?” he gasped as his hand reached towards Tess. She reached her shaking hand out to reach his. He clasped it and quickly pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight and kissing her forehead.

“Are, are they gone?” Tess stammered.

“For now. But they obviously know that you’re here. This was an all-out attack. I’m sure that they will be back. We’ll need to prepare,” he said as he looked over Tess’ head at Hansen.

Hansen nodded and moved past them towards the other side of the basement. Tess watched as he stopped in front of the back wall, near a picture. He pulled open the picture, revealing an electronic keypad behind it. He punched in a code, put his face near the retina scanner then stepped back as the wall shifted, opening to reveal a large room filled with every kind of weapon that you could think of – and some that probably hadn’t even been heard of yet.

“Holy shit! I feel like I’m in the bat cave,” Tess mumbled.

Colton chuckled as he kissed her forehead and pulled her towards the weapons room, “When you’ve been around as long as I have and see all the violence that I have, you tend to amass quite an arsenal. Although I haven’t had much chance to use it lately.”

“Why not?” she asked.

Colton slightly cleared his throat, ignored her question and busied himself searching the weapons. Tess looked towards Hansen for the answer. Hansen smiled slightly as he answered her question, “Master doesn’t want to sound egotistical – but he’s so strong that there are very few creatures that he can’t beat in hand to hand combat. He just doesn’t need weapons anymore – and he’s been in exile since Lisette ruined him.”

“Oh,” Tess said as she slowly walked into the room to join Colton, “there’s nothing wrong with being strong, Colton, or having to recover after having your heart broken.”

“I know,” he said as he strapped a holster around his left thigh. He grabbed a 9mm gun off the wall, four ammo clips loaded with silver bullets and a wicked looking knife and tucked everything into the holster. Next, he strapped on a shoulder holster and loaded it up with another gun and more sharp objects. Then he grabbed a long black leather coat off of the wall, pulled it on and stuffed the inside pockets with more weapons. He turned to face her and her heart started pounding in her chest. Her nipples strained against her blouse and her * started throbbing, making her panties damp – dear God, he was testosterone on two legs – a mass of good looks, muscle and black leather. She wanted to jump him right then and there – but with Hansen just two feet away she held back. She tried to appear calm and collected, until Colton grabbed another leg holster off of the wall, shoved a small, lightweight 38 caliber pistol into it then knelt on the floor in front of Tess and slowly slid his hands up her left leg to push her skirt up until he revealed her thigh. She visibly shivered and gasped, causing Colton to look up at her, first in surprise and then with a slight smirk as he realized what she was feeling. He strapped on the holster, slowly, seductively, lowered her skirt back down her legs then locked eyes with her as he slowly stood up – his hands caressing gently up the sides of her body until they reached her face. He cradled her face in his hands, leaned in for a kiss and whispered, “later,” just before his lips pressed against hers. Her hands slid up his back to pull him tighter. His hands worked around to gently grab a handful of her hair as his tongue danced against hers in a blaze of passion. Dear God, she wished he would hike her skirt up and take her right there – at this moment she could care less if Hansen was in the room or not – that is, until Hansen cleared his throat. Colton pulled back and his smile danced in his eyes as he gazed at Tess. It was only then that Tess glanced over at Hansen. He, too, was dressed in black leather and strapped with enough weapons for world war three. “Wow, Hansen. You look almost good enough to kiss too,” she said.

Hansen blushed as he walked out, but managed to mumble, “You couldn’t handle it, Miss.”

Colton wrapped his arm around Tess as they headed out of the room, “You got Hansen to crack a joke. He’s never done that in all the years I’ve known him. That’s pretty incredible, Tess.”

Tess smiled and shrugged her shoulders, “So, now what do we do?”

Colton squeezed her hand, “Now, it’s dawn. We need to hunker down in here until nightfall. Then we’re moving to a safer location.”

“That’s it? We’re just going to run? You gear up with all this power and we just run? That seems kind of wimpy, don’t you think?”

Colton pulled her towards the stairs, “Tess, you and me are going to stay upstairs in my bedroom all day then we’re going to regroup at a new location that the wolves don’t know about and then we’re going to hunt them down, okay?”

Tess heard everything he said, but it was the first part that intrigued her the most, “We’re going to be in your bedroom?”

Colton nodded.

“All day?”

“Yep.”

“Will you keep all of this on?” she said as she motioned to his outfit with a wicked gleam in her eye.

“Well, I’ll keep on as much as I can, but there are things that I want to do to you that are going to require me at least loosening up part of what I’m wearing. Is that acceptable?”

Tess shivered as she followed him up the stairs, “Oh, hell yes,” she said.

“Hansen, head to Magnolia and get it ready for us, will you?” he said as they passed Hansen on their way through the kitchen.

“Are you sure sir? You’ll be vulnerable when you’re here, ummm, sleeping,” Hansen replied.

“Just activate the alarms and lock up when you leave. I won’t be sleeping. I’ll keep watch. I need you to make sure Magnolia is ready when we get there. I’m counting on you Hansen.”

Hansen started to protest again but then thought better of it, “Yes, sir, should I contact the others, Sir?” he said.

Colton’s head whipped around and he stared and him. Colton ran his hand through his hair.

“Your men, what are you, some kind of leader?” Tess said.

Colton looked over at her and felt a twinge of guilt, there was a lot about him that he still hadn’t explained to her, but he hadn’t had time yet, and he didn’t have time now. He smiled at her, “Sort of, but there’s no time to explain right now, my pet.”

He turned back to Hansen, “I don’t think they’ll be needed for this, I fairly certain we can handle it, but just to be safe, contact Stryker and read him in on the situation to have him and the others at the ready if things get worse.”

“Yes, sir,” Hansen mumbled.

Colton scooped a squealing Tess into his arms and ran at his full speed up the stairs and into his room. Colton had Tess flat on her back in the middle of the bed before she had time to blink. Her eyes were wide and it took Colton a moment to realize that they were staying that way even as he started kissing her. He pulled back and looked at her, “Are you okay, Tess? Did I scare you?”

A grin broke out on her face, “Scared, no. That was awesome. So fast. You have got to do that with me again.”

“I will. But do you mind if I make love to you first?”

Her eyes blinked as her mind came back to the present moment, “Oh, please do,” she groaned as her hands grabbed the back of his neck and pressed his mouth into hers.

Colton pressed his body into hers, and felt his growing erection straining against his leather pants. He kept having to kick his feet out from under his heavy leather coat. “Can I at least take the coat off?”

Tess smiled at him, “Yes, but don’t you dare take those pants off. I want to grab your ass through leather when I come.”

“Dear God, you turn me on woman,” he gasped as he shrugged out of his coat, dropped it on the floor then unzipped his pants. His cock was so hard that it sprung free with an audible ‘thwack’ against Tess’ belly.

“Ooof,” she groaned

“Sorry,” he mumbled into her mouth as he kissed her.

“Don’t be sorry, just get that thing inside of me.”

He obliged her with one quick thrust, burying his cock to the hilt.

“Yes!” she moaned as her hands grasped his back side, squeezing and holding him in place.

It was then that Colton knew that he was in for the ride of his life.

More than an hour, and countless orgasms for both of them later, Colton’s arms shook as he pounded into Tess. He could feel her muscles beginning the spasm that meant that she was close again. “Oh my God! Colton, bite me. Holy shit, would you please bite me on this one?” she cried out.

He had kept himself from biting her this entire time, not wanting to weaken her this time, but when Tess asked him, begged him, he couldn’t hold back any longer. His fangs elongated and he sank them into her soft neck. She cried out and her sex clamped him so tight as she spasmed that his own epic orgasm followed hers almost immediately as her liquid life flowed down his throat. He withdrew his fangs, licked the wounds to close them and then collapsed on top of Tess, rolling them to their sides and cradling her in his arms as little spasms of post-orgasm bliss pulsed through both of them. “I’m falling in love with you Tess,” he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

“I’m falling in love with you too, Colton,” she whispered.