Desire Unchained (22 page)

saw regular use and not just from workouts.

Lori had rubbed against that chest, had used her face like a cat marking its territory. Her

hands had smoothed up and down Wraith’s body in intimate familiarity.

Seemed like yesterday, but it had been a year ago that Kynan had seen Wraith with his

fangs buried in Lori’s throat and his hands working her pants’ zipper. Wraith had always denied

sleeping with her, but the sight of them together had stuck with Kynan to this day.

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

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

“Shit, are we back to that again? I don’t bang humans. Want me to make a tape recording

so you can play it over and over?”

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

“I have a pulse. I’m not like most vampires.” Wraith leaned forward, braced his forearms

on his knees. “I’ve got the thing with your wife figured out, though, if you can dig yourself out

of the pity well for a second.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Ouch,” Wraith drawled. “Hurt me.”

“Fine. What do you have figured out?”

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

“How?”

“He can shapeshift. After he recovered from the fire at Brimstone, he probably used my

form for his black market dealings to frame me so I’d take the heat. That’s why that night at the

zoo, when you saw me with her, she thought she knew me.” Wraith shoved his hair away from

his face. “Thing is, I don’t think he actually had sex with her.”

“You aren’t making any sense.” Kynan eyed the whiskey bottle. “Or maybe that’s

because I’m half lit. I saw her rubbing all over you. It was pretty obvious she’d screwed you—or

Roag, if that’s who she thought you were.”

“Okay, listen. From what Shade said, Roag got toasted like a burnt marshmallow. He

would have been nearly destroyed, right down to his junk. I’m betting he can’t have sex no

matter how badly he wants it.” Wraith grinned. “Which is really fucking funny.”

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

right?”

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

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

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

“Not buying it.” Guardians had defenses against attacks on the mind, and besides, making

memories like that would have left some sort of doubt, some sort of lingering feeling that

something wasn’t right.

Suddenly, Kynan was flat on his back in his bedroom, hands tangled in the sheets, and

Gem was riding him. Her soft skin glistened with perspiration, and her strong thighs held him

prisoner in their grip. Pleasure shot through him, sharp and searing. Gem’s moans vibrated all the

way to his balls, which tightened, ready to spill.

This was wrong, all wrong. He knew he wasn’t here with her, knew that somehow Wraith

was doing this, but he couldn’t escape. Wasn’t sure he wanted to. Especially not when she did

that thing with her lip, rolling it between her teeth as she threw back her head.

Light flashed in his eyes, and he was on the couch again, fully clothed, panting, a raging

erection straining at his button-fly.

“Believe me now? And I wasn’t that deep into your head. If I’d gone deeper, you

wouldn’t be aware that I was doing it. You’d buy it all as if it really happened.”

Jesus. Kynan scrubbed his face with a trembling hand. “That’s what Roag did to Lori?”

And why the hell had Wraith used Gem in that fucked-up little fantasy, anyway?

“I’d bet my life on it.”

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

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

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

“She was all over me, Ky. I’d been fighting and was half-crazed with bloodlust. I didn’t

want to, but I wasn’t thinking straight, and I needed to feed. And unfortunately, since I’m an

incubus, feeding and fucking go together when I’m with a female.”

Great. Whatever. He needed a break from all of this, and he had to take a leak. He

stumbled to the bathroom, and when he came out, Wraith was standing near the door.

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

need to feed.”

I needed to feed.
It was what Wraith had said about Lori. He’d bitten her, sunk his

huge-ass fangs into her graceful, creamy throat. Her head had lolled back as though she were in

utter ecstasy.

Dammit. Kynan sank to the couch and in a fit of childish, drunken rage, he swept his

hand across the coffee table, sending the empty bottles and bags of chips flying. When the last

beer bottle stopped rolling, clunked up against the TV stand, he flopped back onto the cushion

and threw his feet onto the now empty table.

This was so screwed up. He knew better than to drink, because his thoughts always

detoured to Lori. Sometimes he remembered the good times, the entire days they’d spend in bed,

making love and talking about the future, vacations they wanted to take, the kids they wanted to

have. Other times he’d think about seeing her in Wraith’s arms, his fangs buried deep in her

throat.

What had it been like for her? Had she been afraid for her life, or had she enjoyed it? Had

she been waiting for Kynan to save her, or would she have let Wraith take her right there in front

of him?

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs and hope Lori heard him, wherever she was.

She’d left him with so many questions and so much anger, and he wasn’t so drunk that he didn’t

recognize that he needed help to get out of the quicksand of despair that was sucking him down

slowly.

“Wraith,” Kynan blurted, “bite me.” Okay, maybe he really was drunk.

Wraith paused as he reached for the door handle. “Come on, Ky. I expect a better

comeback from you.”

“It’s not a comeback. I want you to feed from me.”
I’ll take Things You Never Thought

You’d Say for a hundred, Alex.

One tawny eyebrow shot up. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Not enough to affect my judgment.” That was a totally drunk thing to say.

Wraith snorted. “I don’t care about your judgment. I’m wondering ’cause I get a

righteous high from the alcohol in the blood.”

“Do you ever have any thoughts that don’t revolve around you?”

Wraith appeared to consider that for a moment. Then he shrugged. “Nope.”

Which wasn’t true, because the demon definitely cared about his brothers, no matter how

vehemently he denied it.

“Just do it.”

Wraith stepped away from the door, his eyes narrowed as if he expected Kynan to spring

a trap. “Why do you want this?”

“I’m curious.”

“Bullshit. You’ve hunted my kind for years, and now you want to let one suck you dry?

And why me? Why not find some hot female vamp for a nice fuck and suck special?”

“I don’t trust anyone else.”

“You shouldn’t trust me,” Wraith growled.

“I don’t. But I know you won’t kill me. The hospital means too much to you, and I’m a

damned good doctor you can’t afford to lose.”

“You’re a fool if you think anyone or anything means anything to me.”

“Whatever.” Kynan crossed his feet at the ankles. “You going to bite me or what?”

“Not until you tell me why.”

“I’m giving you a free shot at my blood and you’re playing hard to get? What kind of

vampire are you?” When Wraith just stood there, Kynan rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. My

blood’s eighty proof. You want it. You know you do.”

Wraith’s eyes sort of glazed over, because, yeah, he wanted it. But the damned demon

wouldn’t be deterred. “Tell me.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not my type.”

Ky sighed. “I hear you don’t usually feed from females.”

“Female
humans
. Demon females and male humans are on the menu.”

“Why male humans, but not females?”

“Because men don’t give me wood.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Only if I plan to feed from you. Which I don’t. Unless you tell me why.”

“Because I want to know what my wife felt when you bit her, dammit!” Kynan roared,

surprising himself at the ferocity and suddenness of his anger.

Wraith turned away. “I didn’t want to,” he muttered. “I swear.”

Kynan slapped his hand over his face and rubbed his eyes. Shit, he was tired. “I know.”

He heard a rustling, the creak of the chair cushion next to him. Wraith’s hand closed on

his forearm and brought it to lie, palm up, on the armrest. Ky’s heart began to pound hard in his

chest. He didn’t look. Couldn’t. Then came the pain as Wraith’s daggerlike fangs sank into his

wrist. A second later, warmth washed over him. Tingles spread through his muscles and nervous

system.

God, this felt good.

He slid Wraith a glance. “This isn’t like, vampire gay, is it?”

Wraith snorted and shot him the finger.

Vampires were freaking strange. But he was starting to see why some humans willingly

allowed vamps to feed from them. The high was powerful, and probably addictive.

He could imagine how it would feel to have a female doing this. At his throat, pressed up

against him, lying on top of him or under him. His body began to stir as Gem became the female

crushed beneath him, her teeth latched on to his throat—except she wasn’t a vampire, so the

whole idea was ridiculous.

A stream of sensation shot up his arm when Wraith took a particularly strong pull, and

damn him for putting the Gem scene in his head earlier, because now he couldn’t get it
out
of his head. It had been so real it felt like a memory instead of a fantasy.

He could still hear her whispering sexy, naughty things in his ear. The sound of her voice

took him deeper into relaxation, lulling him more than the alcohol ever could.

“What. The. Hell?” Gem’s voice drifted to him, crisp and clear.

He peeled open his eyes just enough to see her standing in the living room, arms crossed

over her breasts, which were pushed up into two plump mounds by the midnight-blue corset she

wore. If she turned around, he’d bet her skirt would barely cover her ass. Her chunky,

high-heeled boots came up over her knees, leaving only her thighs touchably bare.

She’d braided her hair into two ponytails, put on a spiked leather dog collar and black

lipstick, and she looked like she was ready to party. Why that thought sent a stab of jealousy

through him, he had no idea.

Then again, he was sitting on his couch, drunk, with a vampire latched on to his wrist.

Clearly, he was fucked in the head.

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Holy shit,
Gem thought. This was … unexpected. Kynan was sprawled on the couch, legs

spread, left arm propped on the armrest. Next to him, kneeling on the floor, was Wraith, his

mouth firmly attached to Ky’s wrist. When he looked up, his eyes glinted with mischief.

“And I repeat, what the hell? What is going on here?”

Kynan gazed at her with slumberous eyes that made her body flood with heat. “What’s it

look like?”

She glared at Wraith. “Looks like someone was too lazy to order a pizza delivery guy for

dinner.”

Wraith disengaged his hold and smacked his lips. “This is better. Home cooking.” He

held her gaze as he licked the punctures in Kynan’s wrist to seal them. Slowly. Sensually. She

swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

Wraith
knew
. Knew she wanted Kynan, was toying with her because he was aware of the

fact that she wanted to be the one licking the human. And when his nostrils flared, she knew he

could smell her arousal.

“Why are you here?” Ky’s voice was husky, lazy, as if he’d just woken up. He’d have a

great morning voice.

“Wraith called me.”

Ky shot Wraith a you’re-going-to-get-it look, but Wraith just shrugged and leaped nimbly

to his feet. “What? I called while you were in the bathroom. Didn’t think you should be alone.

And I gotta go. I need more than the measly pint you gave up.” He headed for the door. “Later.”

Throwing his head back to look at the ceiling fan as it spun in slow circles, Kynan heaved

a sigh. “Shit.”

“Shit, is right. What were you thinking? You didn’t do something dumb, like ask him to

turn you into a vampire or something, right?”

“I might be guilty of poor judgment, but I’m not stupid or suicidal.”

“Well, don’t
get
stupid or suicidal, because I don’t think Wraith can turn anyone. He’s

not technically undead.”

Kynan threw his arm over his eyes. “Ever think about that, Gem? You know, wonder

what kind of person would trust a vampire enough to drain them to the point of death? I mean,

what’s to stop a vamp from just leaving them for dead instead of giving them the exchange of the

vamp’s own blood?”

“I’m sure that happens.” She looked into his kitchen, which was basically a cove in the

corner of his living room. “I’ll get you something to drink. You need to hydrate. And a little tip?

Next time you decide to donate blood, give to the Red Cross.”

He said nothing as she searched his fridge, came up with Gatorade, and poured a glass.

When she returned to him, he was in the same position, eyes closed, though he’d dropped his

arm. She planted one knee on the cushion next to him, lifted his head, and put the glass to his

lips.