She licked her lips as fear laced with desire rippled through her. When she’d masturbated for Alejandro, while she’d been in the throes of erotic bliss, she had agreed to that. If she hadn’t been hopped up on hormones, she wouldn’t have. The idea of being his object, letting him play out any fantasy he wished with her, would’ve stayed in the realm of her imagination, to be trotted out whenever she needed help bringing herself relief on her own in the dead of night.

But now the opportunity to make it a reality was at her fingertips.

“Don’t say no, Daria.” His voice was edged in steel. “I know you want it. Take it.”

Arrogant. Except he was right, she did want it.

Alejandro took a step toward her, into a shaft of moonlight. She saw he wore only a pair of low-slung jeans, revealing the jut of his hip bones. The delicious expanse of his chest was bared, along with the trail of hair running down past the waistband of his pants that lead to his cock. His long, strong feet were bare, too.

“Strip out of your clothes and come here to me.” He stared hard at her. “Do it.”

Daria hesitated, then raised her gaze to his. She held it steadily as she stripped slowly, deliberately, revealing every body part to him in a tease. If she did this, it would probably be the last time she had any kind of control until morning.

His body had gone tight, his fingers clenched around the rope he held, by the time she stood in front of him, the soft air of the room bathing her skin and raising gooseflesh along her arms and legs. She walked slowly to him, rolling her hips, confident in her ability to arouse him.

Even in the mostly dark, Alejandro’s gaze smoldered. He drew her against him and his mouth came down near hers, his breath branding her lips. He didn’t kiss her, he only whispered close enough for her to hear, “Hands together at the small of your back.”

Her breath hitched.

“You trust me, right?”

She blinked slowly and locked her jaw. That depended on what kind of trust he meant. Trust Alejandro with her body? Yes. She moved her hands to the small of her back.

He relaxed almost imperceptibly. Still with his lips just a breath’s space from hers, he roped her wrists and secured them. Talented.

He took her upper arm and led her to the foot of the bed. After he sat down, he pulled her to lay facedown over his lap. His jeans rubbed the bare skin of her belly. Her gaze flicked to her left. There were items of an indiscernible nature lying on the mattress beside him.

Alejandro eased his hand down her spine and over the curve of her ass, then between her cheeks. He dragged his fingers over her flesh, gently forcing her thighs further apart so he could stroke her clit. She wiggled a little and moaned.

“Is your cunt wet for me, Daria?” His voice had a rasp to it.

“Why don’t you touch it and find out for yourself?” she breathed.

He reached down and pinched her nipple hard enough to make her gasp. The slight pain of it quickly faded to erotic bliss, but she could tell he meant it as a rebuke. “You have no say in how I touch you tonight. Not when. Not where. Not how.” He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Pleasure jolted though her. “Do you have any objections?”

“No.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.

“Good.” He rubbed her clit again. “Do you want me to fuck your sweet cunt, Daria?”

Now her whole mouth was dry. “Yes.”

“That was the right answer, querida. I will . . . in time.” He went silent for a moment, then added in a soft, steady voice that sent shivers through her, “I’m making you mine tonight.”

He caressed the cheek of her ass and then dragged his fingers down the length of her vulnerable, aroused sex and over her anus. She struggled for a moment against her bonds. It made her heart beat a little faster in panic even as it excited her.

“Scared, Daria?” He rubbed the pad of his finger around the entrance to her ass, making all the nerves there flare to life. “Afraid I’m going to do what, I wonder. Afraid I’m going to hurt you?”

“I’m not afraid,” she answered in a steady voice, even though it wasn’t completely true. She did feel the edge of fear mixing with the pleasure.

He gave a low, velvety laugh. “I know you better than you think.” He slipped a finger inside her cunt and her muscles closed around the invasion, pulsing and rippling. “You’d never admit willingly to fear.”

She let out a low moan. “I might be feeling a little vulnerable, but don’t you dare fucking stop, Alejandro.”

He laughed again and the sound of it in the quiet room made her shiver. “I couldn’t stop now even if I wanted to, sweet Daria.”

He added a second finger to the first and found her G-spot as he thrust in and out, making her see stars. With his other hand he rolled her nipple.

Daria let her body—and mind—relax, giving up to him completely. Just until the morning. Just for sex. A soft cloud drifted through her thoughts. Giving in to Alejandro that way made her feel free, floating in a sea of perfect surrender. She had to be in control in her life all the time. Giving up now to a man she trusted, at least sexually, was a heady thing.

Alejandro eased a finger over her anus again and she jerked, cloud momentarily dispersing. “Easy, Daria. Remember, you’re mine tonight.” He slid a finger over it again. “Everywhere.”

She relaxed once more, giving over to the experience. He did something she couldn’t see and when he touched her there again, his fingers were slick with lube. Gently, he speared one finger deep inside her and worked it in and out until she was ready to take another.

There was a bit of pain as her muscles relaxed to accept the penetration, but it only served to make the pleasure more intense. Daria fought not to squirm on his lap. Her cunt felt heavy and warm but, most of all, needy.

Alejandro removed his fingers. A moment later a firm, smooth object pressed against her instead. Her breath hitched.

“Shhh . . . don’t worry. You’re excited and relaxed enough to take this.”

She tensed a little anyway when he started to push the plug inside her. It was graduated in size, getting wider the farther he pushed it in. The slick end of the plug was sticky with the lubricant. When she moved, he slapped her ass. The stinging surprise of it faded to tingling pleasure that rippled through her cunt and she went still.

Little by little, he pressed it into her, filling her full of it and stimulating all her nerves so well she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. There was a bit of pain, but only the barest of an edge. Only enough to sharpen the pleasure into a thing that swamped her mind and dominated her world.

She squirmed on his lap, heavy with the need to come, trying to get some kind of stimulation to her clit to manage it. His broad hand came down on her ass again in punishment, and she jerked, moaning, as orgasm flirted hard with her body and then retreated. If her hands hadn’t been tied behind her back, she would have plunged them between her thighs and fucked herself to climax with her own fingers.

God, he was killing her.

Once in a while, he would ease it out a little and thrust it back in, letting her feel the ridges that ringed the plug. All she needed was a little stimulation to her clit, and she would come.

The experience was primal, erotic beyond anything she could have imagined. Having Alejandro exert this total, complete, and utter control over this part of her body was more arousing than she could have ever guessed it would be.

He thrust the plug in and out of her ass and she felt her juices drip from her empty, needy cunt. Then his fingers were there, stroking the entrance to her pussy, teasing her even further.

“Fuck me, Alejandro. Please.”

“Stand up, Daria.”

He helped her to her feet, but instead of easing his cock—which was rock hard—into her, he made her kneel on the floor. Her cheek pressed against the wood, filled ass high in the air, knees spread wide.

Alejandro circled her once, looking his fill. Then he bent and caressed her cunt, teasing her swollen clit unmercifully and rubbing her aroused labia. Her breath escaped her in a sobbing rush.

“You’re very pretty like that. Should I keep you that way for a while?”

“Alejandro—”

He gave her no time to answer. He yanked up on her wrists, guiding her to her feet. Then he laid her face-first on the bed. Behind her came the blessed, glorious sound of his belt being undone. Was there a better noise in all the universe?

For several moments there was nothing, nothing but her body screaming to be filled even further than it was . . . screaming for Alejandro and for release. Then he came over her, his body pressing down against hers and warming her already heated flesh.

The slick, soft crown of his cock pressed against her cunt and slid in an inch. He did it impatiently, as if he was as much a victim of his sexual teasing as she was, and now his control was shredded.

Inch by long, hard inch, he fed his shaft to her. He thrust slowly in and out, every time driving more fully within her. As he moved, so did the plug, giving her the feeling she was being fucked in both places.

She fisted her bound hands, her mouth opening in a soundless scream of pleasure. Having both locations of her body filled simultaneously was nearly overwhelming. The sensations blended together, becoming one long buzz of bliss mixed with just a little bit of pain. Daria had always known she’d had a kink like this, a taste for utter and total domination in bed. Alejandro gave it to her now in mind-bending spades.

The sensations combined so well she couldn’t separate the penetration of either orifice. It was just pure endless ecstasy, taking all of her thoughts, worries, and fears and throwing them to the wind. Her whole reality was her body and what Alejandro was doing to it.

His strokes became longer, harder, and faster, slamming into her with a ferocity that rocked her to her core. A powerful climax rose within her, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. When it came, it rolled over her like a wave. Sensation overtook her body, making her cry out. It possessed her body, tore thought from her mind, made her knees weak and her vision black out for a moment.

Alejandro yelled her name and came hard deep within her, his cock jumping against the walls of her cunt. His orgasm every bit as soul-shattering as hers.

Daria lay, breathing heavy, limp and sweating. She rested with her eyes closed, feeling and hearing Alejandro breathing hard, too.

After a moment, he released her wrists, though she still had no control over her limbs. He pulled his cock free of her body and extracted the plug as well. Still, she lay, shaking and spent, caught in the powerful throes of what had to be the best orgasm of her life.

Alejandro spoke softly to her, but she couldn’t understand what he said. He slipped his hand under her pelvis and stroked her clit over and over, strong and steady, until she came against his hand once more, shuddering and sighing. Softer now. Easier. Bringing her back down to terra firma.

Finally, he gathered her up in his arms and took her into the shower with him. Coming alive once more under the hot stream of water, she stood and pressed her lips to his, giving him a kiss so sweet it stood in sharp contrast to the wonderful debauchery they’d just shared.

He slicked her hair away from her face. “All right, querida?”

“Mmmm.” She nuzzled the soap-smelling curve of his neck.

He chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Daria still hummed from the night before, when Alejandro had pretty much dominated every molecule—and orifice—of her body. Instead of sating her, it had only revved her libido, made her want more. That response could be a result of the Choosing, or perhaps this increased sexual appetite was simply a part of who she was now.

Whatever the reason, being in this place, where sex was treated so causally, sexual acts performed so openly . . . all of it heated her blood despite herself.

Around her Chosen laughed and talked in low voices in dim light. It was a party, a mixer of sorts for single Chosen and those couples with more adventurous tastes.

There were even blood donors.

The paid veilhounders were lined up against one wall, looking like sickly, painted, and dressed-up dolls. Like a fucking a la carte menu, the Chosen selecting which one they wanted a drink from.

Alejandro stood in the corner, trying valiantly to politely fend off the amorous advances of Jia Ying’s succubare friend, Marissa. Apparently because they’d shown up at this party, that made him fair game.

If Daria had any claim on Alejandro at all . . . or wanted one, she supposed she should be over there getting possessive about her property. But she didn’t have or want a claim. Really. Not even after sharing such intimate acts with him. It was just sex, nothing more. Alejandro could do what he wanted. If he wanted to do Marissa, so be it.

She stood near a couch, one eye on the couple all the same and hating herself for it.

Eleanor entered the room wearing a close-fitting, low-cut red dress that swirled around her perfect calves as she moved. Once within the room, she scanned the occupants, seized on Daria, and approached.

Daria glanced at Alejandro, who gave her a meaningful look. She shifted uncomfortably as the other woman drew near. This was something she’d never received training for at the Academy.

“Good evening, Valerie. I’m glad to see you and your mate could make it here this evening.” Eleanor glanced at Alejandro, who must have just said something hilarious because Marissa was laughing like a hyena on carmin. Daria rolled her eyes.

“I’m glad we came, too, so we could see what these evenings are all about,” Daria answered.

“It won’t get really interesting until later when everyone’s more relaxed and a little bit blood drunk. Please, sit with me.”

Daria sank onto the couch beside Eleanor. Her gaze strayed to a couple near the wall. The male’s hand was thrust up the woman’s skirt and working back and forth. The woman’s lithe body was taut and the slack look on her face made it clear that she was about to come right in the middle of all these people.

In another dark corner, two women writhed against each other, pulling at each other’s pants and tangling their tongues, upthrust breasts rubbing together through the heated mesh of their clothing.

Yeah, Daria hoped to be back in her room long before things relaxed any more than this. She understood the sexual proclivities of the Chosen could sometimes be described as . . . odd. That was because they were so long lived. After a couple hundred years the run-of-the-mill sexual encounter just didn’t cut it anymore. Vamps got kinkier as they became older. Succubare were kinky from the get-go. It was kind of in their nature.

Daria watched the male and female couple for a few moments, saw the woman shudder and tense against the man, her eyes closing in a fit of orgasmic ecstasy. The woman ground her pussy down on the man’s hand, her own fingers rubbing her nipple through the material of her top.

Daria shifted uneasily, feeling the response in her own body. Watching the couple turned her on. It made her cunt tingle and pulse. Made her gaze stray to Alejandro and remember what he’d done to her the night before, the double penetration, the rope . . .

“I can see you’re a little uncomfortable with it all,” Eleanor breathed silkily, leaning in closer to Daria. Eleanor had successfully trapped Daria between her body and the couch’s armrest. “But it’s because you’re new to Chosen life. One day you’ll want to try new things, too.”

“I guess we’ll see.” Daria’s voice came out shaky.

“Like maybe even try a woman.” Eleanor cocked an eyebrow and leaned in closer. It was hard for Daria to find fresh air now . . . and Eleanor’s mouth was coming dangerously close to hers. “Have you ever?”

“No.” Damn, did her voice sound shaky? She didn’t want this, didn’t want a woman. Er . . . did she? How could she turn away when she needed Eleanor to be friendly with her, give up information.

How friendly did she have to get?

Eleanor’s lips pressed hers, soft and sweet, the breath of a Chosen nice and warm against her mouth. Daria returned the kiss, but when Eleanor’s tongue fluttered against her lips, asking for entrance, Daria pulled away.

Across the room, she saw Alejandro staring at her and Eleanor, his glass held tight in his hand. Marissa was running her fingers up and down his arm and he wasn’t even stopping her. Unexpected, hard anger flared.

Daria looked back at Eleanor, who appeared disappointed her attempt to woo had failed. She smiled coyly and allowed her hand to trail down the other woman’s bare arm. “I’m sorry. I was distracted.”

Eleanor’s warm smile returned. “That’s all right.”

She tilted her head to the side and gave Eleanor the kind of grin that promised pleasure and erotic delight . . . a rusty smile normally used only on men. “Can we talk awhile?”

Eleanor instantly got the rest of her groove back, scenting blood in the water once more. “Of course. Shall I get us something to drink?”

“Excellent.”

Daria tried to relax while Eleanor got two drinks from an alcove in the corner and returned.

Like a good little Valerie, she took a sip and did her valiant best not to grimace. Raspberry. Erk.

Smoothly, Daria set the cup on the floor near her foot. “So how long have you been at the Shining Way, Eleanor?”

“From the beginning. I have always been with Christopher Sante, for as long as I can remember.”

Bingo. It had been the right question and gave her a good segue into the information she truly wanted. She channeled Jia Ying for a moment. “Oh, you’re so lucky! I mean, I’ve just met the man, but I can already tell that he’s as wonderful as everyone says he is.”

Eleanor’s lips tightened. “He’s a man, like any other man. Sometimes he’s a good man, sometimes he’s not.”

“What do you mean?”

Eleanor traced a line on Daria’s thigh . . . slowly. Daria had worn a skirt, one of the few times she’d done so in her life. Now she regretted it. Eleanor’s touch on her bare skin sent confusing, erotic ripples through her. “I mean that, like all men, his dick has a mind of its own. That’s why I like women, occasionally. They wander less.”

“Were you with him . . . romantically?”

Eleanor laughed. “There wasn’t anything romantic about it. It was just fucking.” Her bitter tone suggested something else.

“Did you want it to be more?”

She traced another line on Daria’s thigh, this time higher up. Unwelcome pleasure rippled through her. Eleanor tilted her head to the side as she answered, “You ask lots of personal questions.”

Daria shrugged. “I’m just curious, just making conversation. Anyway, you don’t seem to mind answering them.”

A smile flickered over Eleanor’s mouth. “I don’t mind. You get to be a certain age and you don’t care about being secretive anymore. In any case, most of the dome knows about it anyway. Yes, Sante and I had a very public affair. For him it was just sex. For me . . . I guess I wanted more. It wasn’t to be, however.”

“Because he met Ari Templeton.”

Anger flashed through her eyes and she shifted away from Daria. Daria thought for a moment she’d pushed too hard, so she laid her hand on Eleanor’s leg. The silk of her expensive dress cooled the heated flesh of Daria’s palm. Eleanor relaxed a little and leaned in close again.

“I was with Christopher for years and couldn’t get him to see me as anything more than a piece of ass. Then he meets a human woman, someone he’s got nothing in common with at all, and he mates her within a year.”

“They were together for a whole year before he finally Chose her?” That was news to her. Sante had really put some planning and time into this one. Of course, he’d put planning and time into her dupe, too. More than a year’s worth.

“Yes, according to Christopher he’s met his match for eternity.”

Daria digested that. “You believe him?”

Eleanor shrugged a shoulder. “Christopher’s got no reason to lie.”

“But don’t you think it’s strange that she’s the daughter of Richard Templeton, though? It’s almost . . .”

“Poetic?” The word came out breathy. Eleanor leaned in closer to her.

Daria stiffened and forced herself to relax. “Something like that. I don’t know. It seems . . . convenient.” Fishing. That was a whole lot of fishing she’d just done.

Eleanor brushed her lips against Daria’s cheek. Her warm, sweet breath bathed her skin. “I think it was an unfortunate coincidence. Not convenient at all.”

Her lips neared Daria’s and Daria froze, uncertain what to do. She didn’t want to offend Eleanor, but neither did she want to kiss her again. Inevitably, Eleanor’s mouth pressed hers once more. Her tongue fluttered, and Daria parted her lips, letting the other woman in to play. Eleanor’s tongue brushed hers, sending an electric jolt through her body, straight to her cunt.

When Eleanor’s hand closed over her breast, Daria didn’t object. The woman’s fingernail teased her nipple, the hard edge toying with the sensitive part of her anatomy through the material of her shirt and bra.

Daria soaked her panties.

Eleanor made a pleased sound in her throat and deepened her kiss, her hand straying to the hem of Daria’s skirt and then pushing past it. Daria’s breath came faster and she parted her thighs a little before she’d even realized she’d done it.

Maybe she was riper for sexual experimentation than she’d thought.

“Valerie?”

Eleanor jerked away.

Slightly dazed, Daria looked up to see Alejandro.

“Get up.” His expression was grim.

Eleanor backed away from Daria immediately after seeing the look on Alejandro’s face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to trample any boundaries.”

Alejandro only glared at her and held out his hand. “Valerie?” he snapped as if pissed off.

Daria took his hand and allowed him to pull her up from the couch and into his arms. He enveloped her and dipped her a little, letting his mouth come down on hers.

His lips slid like silk over hers as he sipped her for a long moment before going in for a deeper taste. His tongue rubbed against hers, making her body react instantly. Her sex grew warmer and her fingers dug into his upper arms for support, feeling the bunch and play of his muscles under her hands. Somebody whimpered, and she realized belatedly it was her.

When he finally set her on her feet, her knees were shaking and her facial muscles slack. Alejandro gave Eleanor a pointed look, having staked his claim on Daria, pissed on his territory, or whatever he’d done. But he wasn’t finished yet.

He turned her to face Eleanor, who still sat on the couch, and yanked Daria’s skirt up to her waist. Daria gasped in surprise, but when she tried to move away, he pulled her arms behind her back and bracketed them there. Then he pulled her panties down to her knees and slid his free hand between her thighs.

“You were mine to do with as I wish the moment we set foot here,” he murmured into her ear. “Remember that. Remember you’re mine.”

“Alejandro—”

He brushed her clit, already swollen and aroused, and her back arched. A sexual haze, a familiar state these days, settled over her mind. She spread her legs as far as the panties would allow, not even caring she was displaying herself to the woman in front of her. Yes, of course she wanted him to touch her. She always wanted Alejandro to touch her.

Alejandro used her own moisture as a lubricant, circling her aroused clit until Daria shuddered and moaned. Then he slipped his hand down and slid two fingers deep inside her aching cunt. Her muscles clamped down and rippled around the invasion, pleasure coursing through her body. He started to thrust and Daria saw stars. The whole room and everyone in it disappeared as he slowly worked them in and out.

Since he no longer had to restrain her, he pushed his opposite hand under the hem of her shirt, yanking the article of clothing up enough to free a breast from her bra and gently pinch her nipple.

“Alejandro,” she said breathlessly.

He said something in a harsh voice, but she couldn’t make out the words. Daria was drowning. Eleanor answered.

“Come for me, baby,” he whispered into her ear. He ground his palm against her clit. “Just let go.”

She did. It coursed through her relentlessly. Her cunt pulsed and rippled as she climaxed against his pistoning fingers. Without shame, lost in the eroticism of the moment, throwing her head back and nearly screaming in release.

After Alejandro pulled her panties up and replaced her skirt, she slumped against him, shuddering in the powerful aftermath.

“I get it,” said Eleanor. “I can look but not touch.”

“Good.” Alejandro nodded once, took Daria’s hand, and led her from the building, back to the room.

On the path between the buildings, with the light of another damn full moon shining down on them, she was finally able to speak once more. “Thank you. That was a great performance. I doubt Eleanor will bother me anymore.”

He glanced at her, his fangs extended and flashing white in the silvery light. “Who was performing?”

She stopped on the path. “You were mad that Eleanor made a pass at me?”

“Maldita sea!” He turned to face her. “I don’t want anyone but me touching you. Anyone. I don’t care what their gender is.”

For a moment, she was pleased by his statement, pleased that he was jealous. She even smiled.

Then she was pissed.

“And what did you say to her when I—when I . . .”

He grinned, looking feral. His white teeth gleamed in the half-light. “When you were about to come? I said you were mine, no one else’s. Mine to touch, mine to fuck.” He paused. “I meant it, work or no. And not just for last night, Daria, I intend you to be mine forever.”

She was speechless for a moment. “And what about you with little Miss Marissa? She had her slutty succubare fingers all over you tonight. You get to touch anyone you want, but I can’t? Is that it?”

“Did you want Eleanor to touch you? You looked distressed to me.”

She had been, but not for the reasons she would have thought before the other woman had touched her. Daria had never expected to like it. She changed the subject. “You ask me that and say nothing about little Miss Marissa?”

Any hope she’d had of continuing her denial of her feelings for Alejandro were pretty much dashed with the sharp stab of jealousy she felt.

He stepped toward her, caught her upper arms. “I don’t want that Chosen. I only want you. Haven’t you figured that out by now? Marissa saw what I did to you along with everyone else in the room. She saw the claim I staked on you, and she won’t be bothering me anymore. I was just giving you room to get what you needed from Eleanor, but once it went too far, I went a little crazy.” His face hardened. “I don’t share well.”

This was a dangerous conversation to have in the open. “Let’s go back to the room for the rest of this discussion.”

“You’re right, we should.”

He kissed her once, roughly, then backed away and led her back to their place.

Once he’d shut the door, Daria turned. “Eleanor seemed convinced—”

“Shut up.”

He pushed her back onto the bed and covered her body with his. His mouth came down on hers and swallowed her gasp and all her words of protest. His erection pressed into her thigh and she realized belatedly that, yes, she’d received release at the party, but he had not. Now she had one hell of an aroused vampire on her hands.

Not that she couldn’t handle him.

He eased her panties down and off even as she worked the buttons on his jeans. The part of her that had turned slutty after she’d been Chosen couldn’t wait to have him inside her, even as the other part, the sane part, worried she was getting deeper and deeper into this man emotionally.

Right now all she cared about was him getting deeper into her physically.

He snaked off his clothes from the waist down and forced her thighs apart. “Daria, goddamn it. You’re like an addiction,” he whispered a moment before his mouth came down over hers.

And she was happy to give him his fix.

He pushed her skirt farther up. In their impatience, she still wore all her clothing, even her heels. He’d only bothered to yank her underwear down and off. The head of his cock pushed at her entrance and she shifted, allowing him to slide deep inside her.

“Yes,” she breathed against the curve of his throat. “Yes, that’s it.” With her fist balled, she gently hit his shoulder and fought the urge to bite him. His cock was lodged inside her to the base and her muscles rippled as she stretched to accommodate him.

Having him inside her was like coming home, like some part of her had gone missing and had just been found. That she would think that way was disturbing, but she would examine it later. Her hands curled around his shoulders and she held on while he pulled out then flexed the muscles of his buttocks and pushed all the way inside her to the base of him once more.

Oh, god. She closed her eyes in ecstasy. That was even better.

“You were excited when Eleanor touched you, weren’t you, Daria?”

Oh, god, he wanted to make conversation? She wasn’t sure she could manage that in her current state. “Uh, yes . . . I mean, I think so.” She shook her head. “It’s the Choosing, making me open to things I wouldn’t have been okay with before.”

His lips bussed her forehead. “Probably. It excited me to watch it.”

“I thought it made you jealous.” Her voice sounded all breathy and aroused. He’d lodged himself in her, long, hard, and wide. He touched every intimate inch of her, possessed her, pinned her. It was driving her crazy for him to simply remain that way without moving. She had to stop herself from moving her pelvis and forcing some kind of friction.

His fingers curled in her hair and drew her head to the side, baring the vulnerable column of her throat to him. Fangs flashed in the semi-lit room. “It did, but before I got possessive, I got turned on.” He dropped his head and scraped his teeth over her skin.

Daria sighed and shifted beneath him. “And what about after, when you touched me that . . . way . . . in front of everyone.”

“Are you trying to say when I made you come, Daria?” He growled and bit her a little. The prick of his teeth sent shivers down her spine. “That nearly killed me. That’s why you’re here now, beneath me.”

She whimpered and moved her hips, managing to force his cock out of her and then back in a couple of inches. Pleasure spiked through her body, centering in her clit. “Then what are you waiting for? Fuck me.”

He grinned ferociously. “Maybe I’m trying to make you feel as crazy as I did in there.”

“You’ve done it. Fuck me now, Alejandro. Fuck me or I’ll scream.”

He braced his knees on the mattress and thrust. Daria closed her eyes and gripped his shoulders. That was what she wanted. He picked up the pace, harder and faster until her whole world was only the way their bodies connected, the hard, beautiful press of flesh.

Alejandro bit her throat. That now familiar burst of orgasmic pleasure at the strength of his veil and the pierce of his fangs rippled through her, sending her to the brink of a climax.

Her fangs also extended. Finding the perfect place where his throat met his shoulder, she sunk in deep. He jerked in ecstasy at the sharp penetration of the tips and the furl of her veil covering him.

Her climax rose slowly and went on and on. Over her, Alejandro also shuddered and came.

When their climaxes had both passed, Alejandro rolled to the side and pulled her near him. They lay tangled together, their breathing harsh in the quiet air. Being that close to Alejandro after such an intimate moment was too much like being lovers. Especially when he stroked her hair the way he was, and kissed her temple. Especially after he’d declared her his before all and sundry.

Especially since she wasn’t sure she minded.

This was a pathway of thought fraught with danger. Daria pushed up and looked down at him. He looked taken aback at her abrupt movement. It was good they’d sated themselves. Now they could talk business without any distractions.

“I was going to say that Eleanor seemed convinced that Sante truly loves Ari Templeton. Goddamn it.” She paused. “And she knows him really well.”

Alejandro sighed and pushed up. “Okay. It’s one opinion.”

“An informed one.”

Daria rolled off the bed, took off her skirt, blouse, and shoes, and pulled on a pair of panties, sweatpants, and a T-shirt while Alejandro answered her.

“We have to start considering the possibility it’s true.” He sighed. “If it’s true then we have to redouble our efforts at the factory and on the blood slave trafficking possibility, because we won’t have a kidnapping case.”

Daria turned and paced to the window looking out into the courtyard. “Even if Sante is duping her, kidnapping would be nearly impossible to make a case of.” She let the truth of that sink in and then swore colorfully. “Either way we have nothing against Sante right now. We’re going to have to let the kidnapping thing slide.”

Alejandro nodded. “We have to look for other avenues to nail him.”

She turned. “I feel like there’s something, Alejandro. Don’t you? It’s not only that I think Sante can’t run this place without some sort of illegal funding, it’s that every instinct I have says they’re hiding something.”

Alejandro nodded. “I feel it, too.”

“There’s another issue, too—”

Someone knocked on the door. Alejandro jumped up, pulled on his jeans, and did up his belt before he opened it to admit Brandon. “I heard you two come in,” he said as he entered. He favored Daria with an oily grin. “Thought I’d give you some time alone before I came knocking.”

Daria looked away from him. She was liking this guy less and less.

“We were just talking about the fact we’re going to have to leave off on the Ari Templeton kidnapping issue.” Alejandro went to stand near the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Early indicators are that those closest to Sante believe he and Templeton are the real deal. That means that even if Sante is playing her somehow, we don’t have a case.”

“Either way she’s here by choice,” Daria put in bitterly.

“Who did you talk to?” Brandon asked sharply.

“I talked to Eleanor Matthews tonight. You probably recognize her name from the files we received. She was with Sante romantically, and has been loyal to him ever since he started the Shining Way. She and Sante share the same blood mother.”

“Yeah.” Brandon rubbed his chin. “Try Carlos. He’s Sante’s right hand, his muscle. If any of his people know his plans, it’s that one.”

“The thought occurred to me, too,” answered Daria. “He hates us with the fire of a thousand suns for some unknown reason, but we can do our best. In the meantime—”

“Try to get me in,” Brandon interrupted.

“We’re working on it,” Alejandro snapped in a voice with a sub-text that clearly said, Shut up about it already. He stood in the middle of the room barefoot, shirtless, and with his hair mussed. He looked positively edible that way to Daria. “We’re new to the inner circle and need to wait for the right moment. If we move too fast, we look suspicious. So, chill out on the issue, Brandon. We haven’t forgotten.”

“Yeah, don’t.”

“In the meantime,” Daria continued pointedly, “I’ll try and use my new position of honor to get me into the packing room at the factory.”

Brandon walked to the door. “Good idea. All right, then. I’m out of here. I have some work to do of my own now.” He lifted his eyebrows and grinned. “Of the female kind. Evening.” They watched him leave, and Alejandro closed and locked the door behind him.

“Man, I knew my gut instinct about that guy was right from the beginning,” Daria muttered. “He is a pain in the ass.”

Strong arms took her from behind, his palm spreading flat over her lower stomach. The heat of his bare chest bled through the material of her T-shirt and warmed her back. His mouth came down by her ear and he murmured, “Forget about other men now, Daria. I want you to only think of me and what I want to do to you.”

Daria ran out of breath. His silky voice and smooth accent rolled over her, making her cunt warm and wet. It didn’t matter that they’d just had sex. She wanted him again. Damn it all to hell. It was like she was completely powerless against him. “And what, exactly, would that be?”

His hand slipped past the hem of her T-shirt and closed around her breast. With the pad of his finger, he teased her nipple back and forth. He dragged her earlobe between his teeth slowly, and then whispered, “To fuck you breathless. Again. You didn’t think I was done with you yet, did you?” He pulled her sweatpants down and off. Hell, she’d just put them on.

“I’m already breathless.” She could practically hear his grin.

Before she slipped from his arms and crawled onto the mattress, she fitted her rear into the curve of his pelvis and rubbed against his hard cock through his jeans, making him groan.

Oh, yeah, she was getting the hang of this sex thing again.

On the bed she lay facedown and listened to him strip the jeans off. The rustle of the garment hitting the floor was like a promise.

He hit the light and plunged the room into darkness, but for the moonlight glowing softly through the courtyard window. In the sudden silence, she waited, the air cool on her bare legs. She wore only her panties, having already discarded the rest.

Then he was there, breath warm and sweet along her skin. He had a long, thin piece of rope in one hand, which he looped around her wrists before she could say a word. She opened her mouth to protest, but he slipped a hand between her thighs from the rear and touched her clit. Pleasure flared through her body and she fell silent.

He placed his mouth to the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “Do you trust me?”

Again, this question. This complicated fucking question. It was one she had trouble answering fully. Daria trusted Alejandro to watch her back on this mission, or in a fight. She trusted him enough to let him tie her up and do delicious things to her body tonight in this bed.

But she didn’t trust him with her heart. No. Not that. She didn’t trust him not to mind-fuck her.

Daria didn’t trust any man not to do that.

“Sometimes.” The word floated out like a slap to Alejandro’s face in the quiet air. “In some ways.”

He hesitated. “It will have to be enough. For now.”

Alejandro tied a knot around her wrists like a man who’d had a lot of practice securing women’s wrists. Momentarily, she wondered about all the things his blood mother had made him do. Tying people up had definitely been one thing. It had to be. He took his belt, threaded it around a slat in the headboard, looped the other end around the rope, and secured it.

It left her on her knees, facedown, cheek against the mattress. He put his hand to the nape of her neck and massaged a moment, before running his palm down her back inch by slow inch, over her rear and then between her thighs.

Through the cotton of her panties, he found her clit fully aroused and practically panting for his attention. Taking it between two fingers, he rubbed it through the material until she moaned.

“Mmm, very nice. I’m going to enjoy having you at my mercy,” he murmured. “Again.” Then he tore her panties off, leaving her sex to be bathed by the cool air of the room.