The tenderness in his face mixed with lust, hardening his features. He drove into her, seating himself to the hilt with one thrust that wrung another cry of ecstasy from her. He pulled back, his strokes gentling.
She wanted more. “Harder,” she directed him, watching him as she dug her fingers into his taut buttocks. “Faster.”
His big body shuddered but he complied, his hard thrusts driving her into the mattress. She lifted her hips to meet each ferocious jab, her body clamping down around him. Another orgasm shattered her into a million pieces and she heard his roar, felt the jet of his release as he came deep within her. His fangs sliced into her throat, and the drawing of her blood threw her headlong into another climax. She’d dug her nails into his skin, the inner fire had burst free in the form of horn buds and burning eyes. Her demon had feasted on him, drawing on his life force. Sexual energy flooded her, filling her with a euphoria that was indescribable.
Finally he collapsed against her. He rolled to one side, holding her close, cock still snuggled inside her. They’d gone to sleep like that, arms around each other, the smell of sex heavy in the air.
Nix dragged herself away from the memory of that night, drawing in a shaky breath. She flopped onto her stomach and punched her pillow, bunching it beneath her head. A string of expletives burst from her before she tightened her lips and bottled the rest of it up. They’d been so good together, she and Tobias, and it had all gone so wrong after that night.
She had to stop this, now. What was between them was gone. Never to return. She’d have to be insane to get mixed up with him again. Going crazy was just what she was trying to avoid.
After that volatile memory she was unsettled again. Pain rolled across her forehead, her gut churned with demon fire. “Shit.” She sighed and climbed out of bed. She could tell she was going to be doing a lot of tai chi while Tobias was around. She got in the opening posture and drew in a breath. Here we go again.
Tobias took a final look around Rinda’s apartment, hands thrust deep into his pockets. Crime scene techs had been through here already and they’d found nothing out of place. Neither had he. But he’d had to look for himself, just in case they’d missed something.
They hadn’t. Damn it. The more time that passed the less chance he had of catching Rinda’s killer. The first twenty-four hours were critical, and he was getting nowhere fast. Her kitchen was meticulous, her bedroom less so. The comforter was half off the bed, the pillows askew. A pair of tennis shoes lay on their sides next to her closet, and a bra hung from the doorknob. Lingering odors in the air told him she’d had a male visitor, a human, recently. Perhaps even the night she’d died. The scent was too faint for him to be able to sniff out who it belonged to. Tobias needed to find out who she’d been seeing, and he’d have to do it through old-fashioned detective work, not by using his preternatural sense of smell. Since most murders were committed by someone the victim knew, the boyfriend could have something to do with Rinda’s death.
Tobias needed to go talk to Byron Maldonado. Rinda had been working for the quadrant vamp leader for the past few decades, had known Maldonado long before Tobias had met him. Maldonado needed to know she was dead.
More than that, he needed to know that someone was apparently targeting vamps in his jurisdiction. At the very least he might have an idea why. Tobias figured it was too much to hope that Maldonado could actually stop it. And he was pretty sure the vamp leader had nothing to do with it, because he wouldn’t be so sloppy as to leave his kills lying around to be found.
Tobias decided to take Nix with him when he went to see Maldonado, even though it would make his job more difficult, having to contend with trying to ignore her sexy allure. But she and Maldonado had gotten along well enough before, and she read people well. Maldonado had a certain charm that Nix had been able to ignore. Tobias had to think she could still see through Maldonado’s bull to get to the truth.
He pulled out his phone and dialed her number. Though he needed to speak with her he was silently hoping the call would go straight to her voice mail. No such luck. Her sleepy voice came on the line after the second ring. Tobias glanced at his watch, wincing when he saw exactly how late it was. “Nix, honey, I’m sorry to call so late.”
“Tobias?”
He heard the rustle of sheets and pictured her sitting up. Which meant she’d been lying down, and that brought all sorts of carnal thoughts streaming through his mind. “Yeah, sorry.” He cleared his throat and tried to clear his head as well. “I need to go see Byron, let him know what’s going on.” He paused. “You haven’t already talked to him, have you? After the first murder?”