Dark Mate (MATE series) (2 page)

Eva gripped her gun with both
hands, and turned in a circle, pointing her weapon at the blank
walls.

Nothing moved. The shadows
remained where they were.

Yet she could sense him.
Him
.

Male. Powerful. Dangerous.

She could feel his presence in
this very room.

“
Show yourself,”
she said, her voice low but commanding.

“
I won't hurt you.”
Much
.

She swore she heard a chuckle.

Eva whipped round, and almost
lost her balance. She let out a cry.

She'd glimpsed those eyes
again. Just for a fraction of a second.

The eyes of a predator.

Eva's finger tightened on the
trigger. She tried to take aim, but there was nothing in front of
her, nothing but mist.

She stared at the swirling
mist, and narrowed her eyes. Very slowly, she lowered her gun. Then
she fired.

There was a low, guttural
sound, and the mist began to churn and shimmer before her. As she
stared, she saw the mist solidify into the shape of a man. A tall,
broad-shouldered, masculine shape began to materialize from the mist
and tower over her.

Eva leveled her gun at the
tall, shadowy figure in front of her. Amber eyes glared down at her,
and she saw his mouth twist in a grimace, the same mouth she had
glimpsed smiling seductively at her in the dark. The mist faded,
leaving a tall, darkly handsome and visibly furious stranger standing
before her.

The man had wavy dark hair,
mesmerizing amber eyes and a strong jaw that was now tightly clenched
in pain. He was in a dark shirt and slacks, and Eva saw a bullet
wound in his right thigh.

Her eyes widened. Her aim had
been perfect. Her instincts had been spot on.

Eva flicked her gun at him,
and took a step back.

“
Put your hands up where
I can see them!”

His eyes glowed and he
advanced menacingly towards her. Eva refused to back away, even when
she saw his canines lengthen into fangs.

A vampire.

She pressed the barrel of her
gun against his chest as he towered over her.

“
Step back, and put your
hands behind your head,” she warned.

She saw a flicker of surprise
and amusement in his eyes. She wasn't scared of him, and it seemed
to impress and amuse him.

“
Or what.” His
voice was deep and seductive, almost hypnotic.

“
Or I'll shoot you.
Again.”

He laughed and glanced down at
her shaking gun. “You can't kill me with that.”

“
No. But I can hurt you
with it.” She narrowed her eyes and glanced down at his wound.

She inhaled sharply when she
saw that he had stopped bleeding and his wound looked like it had
already begun to heal. Shit.

“
You're a police
officer.” The vampire cocked his head at her, studying her
with apparent interest.

“
Who are you?” she
demanded, fighting to keep calm under his smoldering gaze. “What
is your name?”

She didn't expect him to
answer, but he did. “King,” he said. “Gabriel
King.”

“
Gabriel King,”
she repeated softly before her voice hardened. “What are you
doing here? This house is empty. No one lives here, and you don't
look like a homeless person.” She looked him up and down,
noting his well-tailored clothes and expensive leather shoes. He was
no squatter. It was obvious that he was pretty wealthy, and she
could sense a dark, dangerous power emanating from him.

A Master vampire, she thought.
She knew enough about vampires to know that Master vampires were
infinitely more powerful, and therefore much more dangerous, than
ordinary vampires.

“
No, I don't live here,”
he confirmed with a smile. “What is your name?”

She bit her lip.

He raised a brow.
I told
you mine. Plus, you shot me.

“
Eva.”

The vampire smiled, and took a
step towards her. Without thinking, Eva fired.

The bullet tore through the
vampire's chest, and he let out a shout of pain and frustration.

“
You!”

The vampire lunged towards her
and Eva instinctively squeezed the trigger again. But before she
could exert enough pressure to fire the shot, he had plucked the gun
from her hand and crushed it in his fist.

She staggered back in shock.
His movements had been so swift and silent she didn't even have time
to react. Her gun was now just a crumpled lump of metal in his hand.

The vampire had made his
point. He could have easily crushed her skull.

“
Eva,” he growled.

She backed away as he stalked
towards her. His eyes were like two golden orbs, and she saw his
fangs glint threateningly in the dark.

Her hands scrabbled
frantically through her pockets, trying to find her keys. She could
hold her keys between her fingers and aim her punch at his eyes.
Even if he could regenerate, it would take some time for his eye to
grow back. Hopefully.

Blind him, and run. That was
the plan.

Eva gasped, as her back hit
the wall. She balled her fists and prepared to fight the vampire
with her bare hands.

The vampire was charging
towards her, but his outline seemed to be blurring. Eva shook her
head hard and blinked. He seemed to be coming towards her, but at
the same time, he seemed to be receding from her. His body was
fading into mist, his golden eyes locked on her.

In another blink, he was
nothing but a swirling column of mist.

Eva's fists trembled. How do
you fight an intangible enemy? This wasn't fair. He could scoot
just about everywhere in an instant, wind around her and hurt her,
and she couldn't strike back. Her fist would just smash right
through him into the wall. She couldn't hurt him. She would just
end up hurting herself.

Not. Fair.

But she finally understood why
the NMPD didn't police the paranormals. They couldn't.

The rogue paranormals would
just run circles around them. The human police officers would just
be chasing mist and shadows, endangering their lives and the lives of
the city's residents.

Eva felt a sudden, momentary
spike of terror as she realized what she was up against. But the
feeling passed, and her fear turned to anger.

Mist or not, she would not let
him get the better of her.

Before she could move away,
the mist slammed into her, wrapping tightly around her. She gasped,
and struggled against the thick, imprisoning shroud. The mist
enveloped her fully, and she felt her body being pressed against
something solid.

She could see nothing but
dense, suffocating mist all around her. But she could sense the
vampire's presence. In fact, he was all around her, surrounding her,
holding her in a smothering embrace.

He is misting away, and he
is taking me with him.

She tried to scream, but she
could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. She could no
longer feel the ground beneath her feet.

Her eyelids closed against her
will.

I shot him,
twice,
and
now
h
e's going to kill me
, was her last
coherent thought before everything clouded over.

Gabriel misted straight into
his mansion and materialized in his bedroom. With a loud curse, he
dumped the unconscious human woman on his bed and staggered back.

He leaned against the wall,
and slid slowly to the floor.

Humans, they were nothing but
trouble.

And this human woman in his
bed was trouble with a capital T.

Gabriel glanced down at the
hole in his chest. The woman had shot him, point blank. The bullet
had burrowed through his heart and out his back. Thank God it wasn't
a silver bullet. Her shot didn't kill him, but it had weakened him.

This woman sure could hurt
him. He glanced at the bed and snarled. He would take his time with
her. Punish her slowly. Torment her, use her, then discard her.

Gabriel walked to the bed and
turned her over. Her braid had loosened, and her red hair spilled
across her face. She was wearing a jacket over her t-shirt and
jeans, and he tried to imagine her in her police uniform. The
thought made him hard instantly.

He jerked away from her.
“Eva,” he grated. How could he want a human woman?

He slumped into a chair at the
side of the bed. When she asked him what he was doing in that empty
house, he hadn't answered her.

He wasn't quite sure he knew
the answer himself.

What
was
he doing
there? The house belonged to him, sure, but it had been empty a long
time now. He had a few properties, but he never really bothered with
them. So what made him mist to that terrace house in particular? It
was just a whim, he supposed.

But Gabriel knew the truth,
even if he didn't want to acknowledge it. He had gone there, for
her
.

Instinct. He just knew he had
to be there, because
she
would be there.

Gabriel stared at her, trying
to work up his anger. Why her? She was just an insignificant human
police officer. Why did he have to mist to that abandoned little
house just to meet her?

He knew that vampires could
feel a blood bond towards their fated mates. They would be pulled
towards their mates as if by instinct, or by destiny, whatever you
choose to call it.

But this woman couldn't be his
mate.

It was just...impossible.

His mate was someone else.

For two hundred years, he had
been searching for her.

She was near. So near.

He thought he'd find her
tonight. Instead, he found...
her
.

Gabriel leaned forward and
roughly brushed her hair from her face. She was—pretty, he
supposed. Pretty for a human. Red hair, stormy gray eyes, full red
lips, curvy, gutsy and cold. Cold enough to put a bullet through his
heart.

Gabriel shook his head. What
was he doing? Finding a cold-hearted human woman attractive?

He snarled. He should drain
her, have his fill of her and then discard her. Or he could turn
her. He was a Master vampire, and he could turn a human into a
vampire. He could control her, have her do his bidding, enslave her
for eternity.

“
Focus,” he told
himself. “Better rid her of any other weapon she might have on
her body before she wakes up.”

He rolled her over on her side
and patted her down. Her body felt soft and warm, and when she
moaned softly, he jerked back at the unexpected jolt of desire
coursing through his body.

What the hell...

Gabriel balled his fists,
glaring down at his erection. No, no, his body was out of whack. He
had been shot at, not once but twice, and had lost quite a bit of
blood.

He wasn't himself.

His mind was protesting, but
his body was totally raring to go.

Take her, take her body and
her blood.

Gabriel shook his head hard.
No!

His cock jerked, taunting him.
Coward!

Gabriel let out a shuddering
breath. All it took was one tiny drop of her blood. Blood doesn't
lie. That was how vampires recognized their true mates. Beyond the
carnal, physical attraction, there was the blood bond.

But how could this female be
his mate?

She was human, weak, fragile
and totally insignificant.

Gabriel's frown deepened. He
knew he was just lying to himself.

From what he had seen, Eva
wasn't weak and fragile at all. She wasn't afraid of him, and she
had put two bullets into his body. She was a feisty little fighter.

In fact, she reminded him a
little of another human woman he had held captive once.

He had captured a human woman
by the name of Rebecca Rose as a reward for his erstwhile minion,
Phin Lester. He had chanced upon Phin Lester and discovered that
Phin had the ability to see through the eyes of an Enforcer, a Senior
Enforcer with the PAC no less. To encourage Phin to work for him,
Gabriel had captured Phin's ex-wife Rebecca and brought her to Phin.
He had put Rebecca and Phin together in a room, and watched them have
at each other. That had been quite...entertaining. Rebecca had
displayed a level of grit and resourcefulness he hadn't expected to
see in a human woman. She had stripped down unabashedly for the
fight, using her ex-husband's lack of control and focus against him.
She was cunning, clever and courageous. But Gabriel hadn't felt even
the slightest stirring of desire for her. The woman had been stark
naked in front of him, bare and bleeding, and he hadn't felt anything
for her. The only thought that went through his mind as he watched
her fight was that he could certainly use a servant like her.