Angel of Darkness (The Fallen #1)(9)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Hunt.

Her hunter stopped less than a foot away. His gaze raked her.

“This is the second time tonight that you’ve taken my food away.” She licked her lips. Really, was a good meal so much to ask for? “Guess what that means.”

He stared back at her. A faint line appeared between his brows. “Your eyes … they should be green.”

A vamp’s eyes changed color—to f**k or to fight, that’s what she’d been told. The irises faded to pitch-black. “My eyes change, the better to see you,” she whispered and smiled. Actually, they changed the better to hone in on prey, so she was telling the ass**le the truth.

His gaze dipped to her mouth. He stiffened. “Your teeth …”

Her smile widened, and she knew he’d have a better view of her fangs. “They change … the better to bite you.” She wasn’t Little Red Riding Hood. She was the wolf. A hunter should know that. But while he stared at her, she took that moment and attacked.

Nicole leapt forward and wrapped her hands around his arms. Her mouth rose to his throat. “You took away my food, so that means you’re dinner.”

And Nicole did the only thing she could. She bit.

After all, vampires had to survive, too.

CHAPTER TWO

When Nicole flew toward him, Keenan lifted his hands and tried to step back. But she reached him anyway. Too fast for a human. She reached him, she touched him—and she didn’t die.

That fact floored him.

For so many centuries, no one had been able to touch him and live.

Even though he’d fallen, Keenan had thought he still possessed the Death Touch. According to the tales he’d heard, he should have still—

Her teeth sank into his throat. A razor-sharp slash of pain burned his skin and then—and then, sweet fire …

Pleasure.

Her mouth was on him, her lips whispering over his flesh, and he could feel the delicate lick of her tongue on his neck.

Touching.

His c**k began to swell, the need, the lust, rising within him. Her br**sts brushed against his chest. Her ni**les were tight as they pebbled against him.

Her mouth was on him, her br**sts against him, and she was still alive.

Well, sort of, anyway.

When her tongue licked over his skin again, fire shot from his neck right to his aroused cock. Aroused.

Angels didn’t—

The hunger grew deeper. He wanted to touch. He wanted to run his hands down her arms and feel her soft skin. He wanted to tangle his fingers in her hair. He wanted—

She wrenched back. Those eyes of hers—not green anymore, a deep, turbulent black—stared up at him. “Who are you?”

“Keenan.” The name would mean nothing to her.

“Okay, Keenan.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Better question. What are you?” She asked and licked her lips, probably catching more of his blood on her pink tongue.

Nicole might not understand the truth about him, but he knew exactly what she was.

When he didn’t answer immediately, her brows furrowed and she tried to pull back. No. He caught her wrists and held tight.

Touching.

His thumbs tracked over the delicate inner flesh of her wrists. “When did you change?” The question slipped from him, but the kick in his gut told him the answer. No wonder he’d been expelled. His crime hadn’t just been refusing to take orders.

He’d made another monster for the world.

No, she wasn’t a monster.

I am.

Her slightly-pointed chin lifted a bit. “I asked my question first.” She swiped her tongue over her lips once more. “You don’t taste like a human.”

Of course not.

“You’re not bitter enough to be a demon.”

So she’d been sampling the supernatural delicacies?

“Are you a shifter?” She tried to pull her hands free. She probably expected to break away easily. The strength she had must trump most supernaturals.

He wasn’t most.

“I’m not shifter.” He’d give her honesty there.

“Then what in the hell are you?”

“Not in hell,” he murmured and pulled her closer. “Not anymore.” Then, because he could, because if he wanted he could do anything now and not have to worry about the consequences, he kissed her.

Her lips were open just the way they should be for a kiss. He pressed his mouth to hers. Probably too hard, but he couldn’t seem to hold back. His mouth crashed onto hers, his tongue thrust past her plump lips, and he tasted her.

Yes.

His c**k ached now, so thick and hard he hurt. Humans took their pleasure whenever they wanted. He could be like them. He’d already paid the price, so he should be able to take what he wanted.

And in all his time, Keenan had never wanted anyone the way he wanted her.

So this is a kiss. The thought floated through his mind. Hot. Wet. Wild. He liked it. A lot.

She wrenched her head away from him. Nicole was breathing hard, her breath rasping. “What the hell was that?”

He blinked, then let his eyes narrow. His cheeks seemed to burn as he stared down at her. “I bled for you. I thought a kiss was the least I deserved as payment.”

She pulled free from his hold but only because he let her go. “You thought wrong.”

“Didn’t you kiss your other prey?” And that had the rage stirring again. So many emotions churned inside him now. Sometimes it seemed as if they’d rip him apart. “Weren’t you rubbing against them, promising sex, when you—”

“I wasn’t going to sleep with them!” Her hands flew up into the air, and he saw the small, deadly claws on the ends of her fingers. “I didn’t want to scare them, so I was …” She broke off, shaking her head. “Never mind. I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“You were seducing them.” The words fell between them. He lifted a brow. “You think seducing the blood away is any better than holding down your prey and just taking what you want?”

She flinched. “Maybe I don’t have a choice.” Nicole spun around and gave him one truly glorious view of her butt as she stormed away.

But she wasn’t really going anywhere. They weren’t done.

“Why didn’t you try seducing me?” Probably not what he should have asked then, but … did she not find him appealing at all? Did she truly prefer the boy she’d had against the wall?

Perhaps the kiss had been wrong. He, too, could try seduction instead of force. If it worked for her …