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  Power was surging through her body as well. Live, electric, that power hurled outward, giving her skin an ethereal sheen. Alex withheld a groan of pleasure by leaving the briefest trail of kisses across the tracks of her earlier tears. He kissed her chin, her ears, her neck—feeling each pulse that rocked her, careful to keep his fangs to himself.

  However, slow, conscientious lovemaking wasn’t what either of them needed or desired. Release wasn’t going to occur from any prolonged, softened touch. Not here, with their emotions supercharged.

  He had to bypass the breasts straining at her filmy shirt, and their raised, rounded buds that called out for the attention of his mouth, because this huntress was pulling at him, cupping his buttocks and moving seductively beneath him.

  Her legs wrapped around him, strong and sure. She arched her slender back off the floor. His thirst beat at him, raw at the back of his throat, held in check in favor of other actions equally as necessary. Maybe more so.

  Alex hesitated, acknowledging that thought. In that pause, she did the unthinkable.

  The Slayer’s teeth grazed his neck. Then she bit down with a fervor that, had he been a man, would have registered as pain.

  As a vampire with an inescapable, insatiable urge to sink his teeth into dewy white flesh, her bite, no matter the reasoning behind it, sent him spiraling over the edge of the sanity he had clung to for so long. He had wanted to know her, be with her, explore their unusual attraction. This was…

  Sublime.

  Well, all right, Alex thought.

  All right.

  No holding back.

  When he entered her slick heat with a merciless thrust, her mouth opened in a silent cry. Her nails raked at his back, his arms, searching for purchase, but unable to penetrate the fabric of his shirt. Her actions weren’t born of the need to fight him off. She was moving against him, taunting, tempting him with a blistering rush of moisture that highlighted her willing acceptance.

  He’d never been harder, more erect. He’d never before encountered such a perfect fit, or anything like the flames scorching his insides.

  He plunged into her again, absorbing her audible gasp by covering her mouth with his own. Fierce now in the relentlessness of his desire, Alex’s thrusts became a rhythm of give and take, parry and withdrawal, that drove them both to the edge. All that mattered now was that rhythm, and how her hips rose to meet and accept each thrust.

  Stroking her velvet depths and feeling connected to her in ways that went beyond a merging of bodies, Alex was aware of the exact moment his lover opened to him completely, abandoning all attempts to protect herself in any way.

  A seismic quake was building up inside of her and heading his way. He was going to meet that quake head-on.

  Easing himself back, shuddering with the effort to wait out one more second as that same stormy rumble grew and rolled through him, Alex then finished with a shove that reached the epicenter of that storm…and felt it surround him.

  In that epicenter, he felt the hollow, empty space that had haunted this beauty for so long. She had led him here and allowed him access. This is what she wanted. Someone to reach her, truly know her and her secrets and accept her for what she would become.

  She was waiting.

  And he was that someone.

  He took that space and filled it with the essence of himself and all that he was. As he did so, flashes of his former life passed before his eyes.

  The stairwell beside them rattled. The floor began to shake against its metallic foundations as Alex and the woman who had been put on earth for the sole purpose of wiping every trace of him from it, climaxed simultaneously in an unchecked, unparalleled ecstasy.

  Chapter Five

  Danika fell back, breathless, exhilarated, unable to focus temporarily, yet sensing her surroundings with the insight of a fresh vision. She felt darkness pressing in, heard danger calling out. But here, on the floor, with her bare legs entwined with Alexander’s, there had been a brief respite from all that.

  She didn’t want that moment to end. She craved him, still, wanting more of the same. But the tingling sensation at the base of her neck had become a persistent, needling prickle.

  “It’s a sign they’re waiting for me, isn’t it?” she said, gazing into Alexander’s eyes.

  He nodded. “And eventually someone from this hospital is bound to want to use these stairs.”

  She watched Alexander get to his feet. He did so reluctantly, she thought. She could sense the turmoil within him. Neither of them wanted anything to disrupt what was forming between them, or the idea that the two of them, entwined, were no longer alone in a world of shadows.

  When he offered her his hand, she took it. Rolling her skirt over her hips without giving a damn about whether or not she’d look presentable, or how cold the night might feel after experiencing so much heat, Danika watched Alexander tilt his head. He was scanning for whatever lay in waiting for them on the streets.

  “Five,” he announced. “A respectable enough welcoming committee.”

  “Great,” Danika muttered. There was no more time to waste. With the mind-blowing sex out of the way, she’d be able to focus her energy elsewhere. Hopefully. With her out of the building, the other folks in it would be safe.

  She headed down the stairs, refusing to think about the fact that it was her job now to go after vampires, yet she’d given this one behind her a free pass.

  They reached the lobby, and through it, the unpopulated sidewalk on a silent side street. Only she and Alexander stood there, in the moonlight.

  “Blood is disgusting,” she said, spinning to face him.

  “You’ll crave mine tomorrow, on the point of that stake.”

  The image made Danika uncomfortable. She might have wanted him dusted earlier, but obviously had changed her mind.

  “Will I want to kill you after this? After what we did?” she asked him.

  “About as much as I’m supposed to want to kill you,” Alexander replied.

  “Does that mean you didn’t want to kill me, even at first, when you knew what I would become?”

  “The thought never crossed my mind.”

  His response, along with the gentle earnestness of his tone, made Danika’s stomach flutter.

  “You didn’t want to bite me?”

  “Oh, yes, I definitely wanted to bite you.”

  “You didn’t, haven’t.”

  “I wanted to bite you for other, more personal reasons than to bring about your end. Biting for pleasure is, for some of us, the ultimate closeness. Because of that, and my feelings for you, I’ll fight the longing every damn day. Just as some part of you will desire to know what it would be like to take me down. That’s the line we walk, Slayer. The sharp edge of the knife we tread upon.”

  What he’d said was true. Even now, unsettled hormones aside, a little punch to Danika’s chest nagged at her to do her duty by ridding the city of this creature’s presence in it. Her blood, the superhot crimson torrent rushing through her veins, whispered for her to do so. But the directive remained distant and slightly out of focus, on the order of hearing someone else’s heartbeat beyond her own.

  The fact was…she didn’t want to rid this city, or any other city, of Alexander’s dark, sexy, sultry presence. This made her a rogue. A vampire hunter with a huge problem.

  But there was more to her craving for him than sexual heat. As far as vampires went, Alexander was unique. Who else had survived all this time, through multiple loves, lives and losses?

  Who else would want to understand her, knowing the intricacies of her current assignment?

  “I don’t want to kill you,” she said, frowning.

  “Well, that’s a relief.”

  Danika balled her fists to keep from touching his cheek. The thrumming in her belly started up all over again.

  “Yet you’ll know where to find me if you have a change of heart,” he pointed out. “We’ll be in each other’s face constantly, both attracted to and
repelled by what we are. Some Slayers can live with that. Others can’t.”

  “You’ve known your share of Slayers.”

  “I’ve known plenty.”

  “Yet you’re still here.”

  “It seems,” he said, “that I’m not much of a threat when people get to know me.”

  Danika searched his face for visible hints of cynicism.

  He shook his head. “I was created to help your side in this battle. In the early days, when there were few vampires, the task was easier. As they created more of themselves, the fight to keep vampire populations down became much more difficult.”

  “You’re saying you were made a vampire in order to fight vampires?”

  The idea seemed absurd at first. Then it made sense, sort of like fighting fire with fire. A vampire warrior had been created to fight the spread of vampirism, which made Alexander an immortal vampire hunter. If what he was saying was true, he had never preyed on mortals, and in fact had helped to keep balance between the species.

  The importance of that struck Danika hard. Had her mother known this, and about him? Is that why her mom hadn’t told Danika about their target? About this glorious creature who had helped her twice in one night, when he’d had ample opportunity to kill a Slayer?

  It was turning out to be one hell of a night. Her coming of age birthday, sans the party and cake.

  A strange thought occurred.

  If she, herself, didn’t have a daughter, where would those Slayer genes go? Into the ether? Would one whole line of vampire hunters be lost to the world if she were to refuse to mate with a normal man?

  It was too much to think about, too fast. Her head hurt. Her body was leaning toward Alexander, wanting a sexual rematch right here on the street.

  “What am I to do if I can feel you out there?” she said. “Every damn day?”

  When Alexander stepped in close, she allowed it. This creature of depth, culture and perception, who was to have been her enemy…had become her lover. Who could predict the consequences of that?

  A stroke of his fingers on her arm caused Danika to look up. She was no longer afraid of his eyes, and now only feared finding in them an emotion that matched her own.

  “You could join me,” he said.

  “Not an option,” she replied.

  “Most commendable, this strength of character,” Alexander said, his fingers moving to her face where he gently traced the outline of her mouth. “And I can’t change what I am. So, here we are, you and I and our differences, being haunted by something other than those differences.”

  “Would you change if you could?” she asked.

  Alexander looked beyond her, to where the dark streets merged in a narrow X of pure silver moonlight. “I’m needed. You can see that. It was too late for second thoughts the moment I let them take my life. Plus, hindsight is a wasted effort.”

  What had Alexander been like as a man? The need to know nearly took Danika over. Just moments ago, her own life had taken a turn. She had given up the rosy picture of a perfect future, and ideals most women her age held. All that was nothing in comparison to what the man beside her had lost.

  Alexander had unselfishly given up his life for his own ideals. The compelling, all too virile male with his hand on her face wasn’t a monster in any sense of the word. He was actually a modern-day knight, a crusader, fighting the same darkness that could just as easily have swept him up, doing his bit to protect a race he was no longer part of.

  It was unthinkable. Confusing.

  Would she, Danika wondered with a pang of guilt, have been able to give up her life for the greater good? Not only her status in that life, but life itself?

  Would she give up her life for him someday, in order to be with him fully, completely and forever? “Join me,” he’d said.

  “Don’t,” he directed, as if he’d read her mind. “Don’t think about that now. It’s enough that we’re on the same side. It’s enough that we understand each other.”

  “The same side,” Danika repeated as his face came close enough to block out the moon.

  And continuing to ignore the danger waiting for them, just steps away, he kissed her.

  His moist tongue danced with hers, rustling up flames that shot downward over her anatomy like a shower of firecracker sparks. Alexander’s extended fangs pricked her lip—not painfully, just another intimate, carnal tickle—and the world, with its big moon highlighting the place where they stood, up and faded away.

  He was not only living up to his name as champion and defender, he was daring to tell her physically, through this kiss, that he would be there for her. He wanted to be there, and was going to help her. He wasn’t going away.

  Danika Douglas had at last, she realized, come into her own. Through the awful sorrow of losing her mother, she was finally living up to her heritage and was responsible for making her own decisions.

  And somewhere in the middle of life and death and fate’s newest hiccup, a vampire and his natural-born nemesis, born this very night, had merged paths, purposes, bodies and souls, as if that was meant to be.

  Would past Slayers roll over in their graves?

  Would this set a new precedent?

  She was in Alexander’s arms, with five filthy bloodsuckers waiting to test her skills. She had already taken on one vampire—Alexander—though not in any way he or anyone else could possibly have predicted.

  She was thinking silk sheets, and what they’d do on them, if they got the chance, as his tongue slid over her teeth. Dangerous as hell? Yes. But danger was a Slayer’s middle name.

  She kissed him back fearlessly, unleashing a passion she’d always held back. She wanted this man. This vampire.

  But they both drew back before the rawness of their emotion engulfed them. As he looked into her eyes, Danika heard the noises around them creep closer. Scuffling feet. Gnashing teeth. And untimely interruption. The reason for all this.

  “Are you ready for round one?” Alexander said.

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  He brushed her mouth with his. “Rain check?”

  “Not going to happen,” Danika stated firmly.

  More time in his arms would worsen her reactions. What good was a Slayer with perpetually weak knees?

  But he was looking right through her, locking on to that part of her willpower already bending to accommodate a new set of rules. So, what she needed was an adrenalin rush not caused by him. She needed to try her new skill set out on the monsters gumming their fangs for her…leaving lustful thoughts of silk sheets and dark-haired vampire lovers behind. She owed this to her legacy. To her mother. To all the Slayers who had tread upon such serious ground before her.

  Rain check, he’d said. A promise of more closeness later.

  “Well, maybe.” She let that amended reply slip, knowing too late that she’d just telegraphed her true feelings. Maybe was the realm of a middle ground, a gray zone that usually favored complete acquiescence.

  There was no time to think about the faux pas now. The air around them was vibrating. Shadows across the street were humming a dark song and daring her to listen.

  “Okay, dammit,” she said. “Rain check.”

  She might not come out of this, after all. It was possible she’d been sidelined by all that mind-blowing…sex.

  “In the meantime, do try to keep up,” she tossed back at Alexander over her shoulder as she streaked toward the darkness and the monsters she clearly saw gathered within it.

  But she stopped abruptly when she had reached the opposite side of the street as if yanked back by the invisible wire binding her to Alexander. He had whispered her name.

  “Danika.”

  Spoken like a caress.

  When she turned, he offered her a killer smile, long, lethal fangs and all. In that smile was an unspoken promise that actually made her heart skip a beat.

  Meeting his gaze, and with a sudden extraordinary lightness caused by the possibility of a golden future opening up befor
e her, Danika pulled the iron stake from behind her…and smiled back.

  Don’t miss the other spooky and sensual NOCTURNE BITES, available at www.millsandboon.co.uk and wherever ebooks are sold. Titles include:

  Time Raiders: The Greek Lover by Jocelyn Kelley

  Angel Voice by Connie Hall

  Time Raiders: The Healer’s Passion by Parker Blue

  Demon Love by Georgia Tribell

  Time Raiders: The Warrior’s Touch by Delilah Devlin

  Color Weaver by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  Time Raiders: The Whisper by Elle James

  A Vampire’s Salvation by Alexis Morgan

  One Night with the Wolf by Anna Hackett

  Shadow’s Caress by Patti O’Shea

  A Night with a Vampire by Cythia Cooke

  Looking for more paranormal romance? The sizzling and spine-chilling books of Mills & Boon Nocturne are available at www.millsandboon.co.uk or your local bookstore.

  ISBN: 9781408937617

  Night Born

  © Linda Thomas-Sundstrom 2011

  First Published in Great Britain in 2011

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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  All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.