She stopped thinking and clung even tighter to Riker . . . until she realized he had gone taut.
“Riker?”
He extricated himself from the tangle of their bodies, and without looking at her, he said, “You need to go.”
“What?” Baffled, her body practically shaking with unquenched desire, she grabbed his arm to pull him back. “Why?”
“Because this isn’t going to work. Not if you can’t handle what I am.”
“Why don’t you let me decide what I can and can’t handle?”
Very slowly, his lips peeled away from his teeth, exposing those massive fangs. “And this is something you can handle?”
Despite the fact that she was so turned on she was about to burst out of her skin, she met his gaze steadily. “Yes.”
“Yeah?” He inhaled, breathing deep. “Then why can I smell your nervousness? Why can I hear your heart beating like a hummingbird’s?”
“Maybe it’s because I’m all worked up, you dense vampire!” When he snorted, she sighed. “Riker, what’s going on between us?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
He laughed darkly. “Well, it wasn’t something. And hell, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t get much farther, anyway.”
She had no idea what he meant by that, but she still felt like she’d been punched in the gut, just the way she had at Chuck’s inability to get her out of this mess. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t make out with random men for no reason.”
“So what are you saying? That you’re looking for a mate, a white picket fence, and two-point-five kids? I can’t give you that.”
“Of course not. Have I said or done anything that would make you think that?” Feeling suddenly cold, she shoved her arms into the jacket he’d given her. “I just like to know where I stand in a relationship.”
“So you like labels. You want to label what we just did? Because the best I can do is call it a mistake. It’s definitely not a relationship.”
A mistake? Her chest emptied of any warm feelings she’d had toward him and became an icy, hollow void. “I see. I suppose I’ll file it under research, then.”
“Research?”
“I’m a scientist,” she said briskly. “I know the physiology behind vampire mating habits, but I’ve never experienced it. Thank you for giving me some insight into why humans are obsessed with vampire sex slaves. I’m not sure I understand what the big deal is, but then, we didn’t get very far, did we?” Straightening her clothing, she strode to the door. “I think I’ll go to my room now.” Not that she knew where it was, but she was reasonably certain someone would see to it that she found it. “Let me know when I can be of help in getting Neriya released.”
She threw open the door, and immediately, two tall females came out of nowhere to escort her down the hall to her assigned quarters.
• • • • • •
I’m not sure I understand what the big deal is?
Riker wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or angry, but he was definitely a lit fuse. He had to get out of this room. Heck, he needed to get out of headquarters. He didn’t want to be under the same roof as Nicole right now. He’d lied about nothing going on between them, because there was definitely something there.
Something fiery and intense that made him feel more alive than he’d felt in decades.
A pounding at his door startled him. Nicole. Like a kid on Christmas Day, he hurried to the door—and found Myne standing on the other side, dressed in
black from head to toe, his big body laden with weapons. It was probably for the best, but Nicole was much easier on the eyes.
“Can Riker come out to play?” Myne asked.
“Depends.” Riker narrowed his eyes at his friend.
Myne often had a skewed view on what was fun. “What are we playing?”
“Poach the Poachers.”
Cool. Riker liked that game. Loser had to take over the winner’s clan duties for a day, which meant doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, dressing game . . . whatever the winner was tasked with doing. So far, Riker
was ahead of Myne by one win, and it was driving
Myne crazy.
They’d been engaged in friendly competition almost since the day Riker had found Myne lying on a riverbank, his naked body riddled with bullets. Myne had been so close to death that Riker had leveled a dagger over his heart with the intention of putting him out of his misery, but that was before Myne moaned, revealing gaping holes in his gums where his fangs used to be.
In a rare moment of compassion, Riker had fed him his own blood right there beside the river. Human blood would have been better, but there was never a scumbag poacher around when you needed one.