Daisy walked forward obediently, and Rose had no choice but to follow the holder of
the chain Ivy had wrapped her wrists in. “We don’t have to do this. He said he was
giving himself up.”
Magnolia gripped Rose hard by the chin and shook it hard. “A bounty doesn’t give itself
up, Rose. After all these years do you really not know that? We take it by force.
Especially when so much is on the line.”
Her sister raised her voice. “We only have a few traditions in our family, since our
mother wasn’t big on those sorts of things. One of them is something called sampling
the merchandise. If we collect a bounty we find attractive, we get to claim him before
we pass him on to our clients. It’s a perk of the job that no one ever talks about.”
She gestured to Daisy, who tugged Rose to the center of the stage to stand beside
Mac. His eyes were closed. Was he conscious?
Magnolia chuckled. “Here’s our problem. We’re
demons
. Nothing like the computer geek from that show, though. We don’t deny who we are.
And
what
we are is not really a trusting species, though you have to admit in this case we
have good reason. Anyway, our little sister seems to have caught up with this handsome
devil without telling us, and if what they were doing backstage is any indication,
there was a lot of claiming going on before we found them.” She paused dramatically.
“Or was there? Unless I see it in person, I don’t think I’m going to believe it. Rose
has never bagged a bounty alone in her life, and this one? He’s a sneaky bastard.
I
had a hard time tracking him down, and I’m the best. I need to see this duet for
myself.”
Rose shook her head. “What are you doing? There are too many people. Too many things
that can go wrong. Why can’t we just take him and go?”
Magnolia glared over her shoulder. “Because you disrespected me. Took what was mine.
Because I don’t appreciate the way you look at me and because I can. You wanted to
be on stage with him. Now either you claim him in front of all these nice people who’ve
forgotten what you are or I’ll make sure we all do. You won’t like what’s left of
your vampire when we’re done.”
When Rose hesitated, Magnolia raised her hand. Mac shouted and Rose whipped her head
around in time to see Ivy’s long, spiked whip split a line down his chest. That whip
was designed to hurt his kind. He was in pain.
“Fine,” she shouted to her sisters. “I’ll do it. Ivy, stop!”
Ivy had whipped him twice more, deepening the gash already created as if disappointed
Rose had agreed so easily. A gesture from Magnolia had her stepping back, a scowl
on her perfect features as she pushed back her bright red hair.
Rose moved to stand in front of Mac, lifting her bound wrists over his head so her
arms were around his neck. Ivy’s narcotic-like power was still affecting him. Confusing
him and slowing his movements. “Mac?”
She was a demon—blood didn’t bother her, exhibitionism was fun and she wasn’t a fan
of vampires.
So why did she feel like crying?
Because the last two days have been the best of your life.
Demons didn’t mate like shifters. Though, yes, their feelings were more intense than
most, they usually didn’t stick around long enough after coming to cuddle or find
out their lover’s last name. Granted, Rose was only half demon. The other half of
her was human. But she’d lived out of balance for so long, she rarely noticed the
softer side of her soul. Wasn’t that why she’d wanted to leave the family business?
She wanted a chance to discover who she was without her sisters. Wanted to be Rose,
and not just another flower in the garden.
All she was—demon
and
human—wanted Mac. She recognized him—his passions, his touch, his smile—in a way
that almost frightened her, and from the moment she’d heard his voice her attraction
to him had only grown. He wasn’t like other vampires. He wasn’t cold. He had a soul.
She’d touched it.
She studied his face. The strong features, furrowed brow and auburn beard that had
felt just as delicious against her skin as she’d known it would. “Mac?” she repeated.
“Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?”
He groaned and blinked, smiling tenderly when he saw her. “You’re here.”
Rose focused all her energy on projecting. This time was theirs alone. She wouldn’t
let anyone take it from her. “I’m here. You told me it was beautiful, but I had no
idea. Thank you for bringing me.”
His crystal blue eyes sparkled as he looked up at her illusion of his ancestral home
in the moonlight, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “We won then?”
Rose laughed and leaned into him. “Of course we won. We are an unbeatable duet. Plus,
that one judge couldn’t stop looking up my skirt.”
“Who can blame him?” Mac murmured, dragging her down onto the grass. “I’d like another
peek myself.”
She cupped his face between her hands, letting everything she was feeling show in
her eyes. “Tell me your name. Your whole name.”
“No one has asked me that in a hundred years.” He licked his lips. “My name was Murchadh
Niven MacKenzie. Pleasure to meet you. And yours?”
Rose shook her head. “Demons don’t have last names, vampire. Didn’t Saint tell you
that?”
“I tune him out more than I should.” His smile was wicked. “Now that we know each
other’s secrets, just Rose, my wild deviant demon lover, can I kiss you again?”
“I might hurt you if you don’t, my hot, Scottish vampire idol.”
His kiss started a fire inside her and broke her heart.
This
was what she wanted. The illusion had been meant to ease him, to protect him from
her sisters. But the truth was that it was
her
new fantasy. Being with him here. As if she belonged with him.
When he lifted his head again they were both naked and flushed. He wrapped his fingers
around her wrists and held her arms over her head. “Rose, I need you. No tricks, no
toys, just you.”
Rose curled her legs around him and lifted her hips enticingly, wishing the illusion
was real. “Then take me.”
They both groaned with his first deep thrust and Rose bit her lip. So good. Nothing
had ever been this good. He fit her, filled her, almost—but not quite—more than she
could take. Perfect.
Mac lowered his head until his lips were hovering over hers, his eyes darkening as
he watched hers dilate with each stroke of his shaft inside her. “You’re killing me,
love. “
She arched her back. “Parts of you are still very much alive, vampire. My favorite
parts.”
He shifted, covering her breast with one thick, callused palm and rolling her nipple
between his fingers. “You have favorites? So do I. Let me show you.”
He lowered his mouth to her breasts and trapped her nipple hard against the roof of
his mouth, sucking in time with the rhythm of his powerful hips. Rose cried out as
lightning shot through her limbs and up her spine. “Yes.”
He lifted his head. “I can’t neglect my other favorites.” Without another word he
pulled out of her body, flipped her onto her stomach and lifted her hips high in the
air. “I do love this ass.”
Rose could hardly gasp for air when he filled her sex again, his thumb pushing between
the cheeks of her ass to fill her everywhere. “
Mac
.”
His moan sounded more like a growl. “I want everything, wild Rose. Stop holding back
and give it to me. I want to hear you scream and beg me to fuck you. I want you to
feed off me…and I need…”
She felt his fangs pierce her shoulder and she screamed his name. “
Mac!
Fuck, yes. I love it. Your fangs, your cock….
you
, Mac. I love…
Yes!
”
Her skin was alive, on fire, every cell screaming for him as he took her harder. Faster.
Pushing her toward a climax she wanted to resist. Her blood was coursing through
his veins and his passion was filling her, feeding her. They were intimately connected.
Demon and vampire. Man and woman. Mac and Rose.
She didn’t want it to end.
“Mac, oh Mac I’m so close and I have to tell you…”
He lifted his head and whispered raggedly in her ear. “Tell me, Rose. Tell me, love,
I need the words. Need you to say them.”
“Mist…. Escape, Ivy. Fuck, Mac I’m coming!”
She tried to warn him, but her orgasm crashed over her and he followed quickly behind.
She was shaking with the force of it, tingling and sated with the desire he’d given
her. She was sensation and sex. Pleasure and sin. She still wanted more.
More…more…
But she had to think. Control her arousal and help him get away…
Rose came back to herself in time to watch Mac dissolve before her eyes. The mist
he’d become shot across the stage and wrapped around Ivy’s face, making it impossible
for her psychotic sister to breathe.
“No!” Magnolia cried. “He shouldn’t be able to do that. He’s under our control. The
chains—
no
.”
Ivy collapsed, unconscious on the ground, and Rose looked out at the audience. Apparently
as soon as her sister had been knocked out and they could move, they’d all reached
for the person closest to them and were tearing at each other’s clothes like lust-crazed
animals. She also heard more than one person in the audience declaring their love
for each other.
Oops. She really should learn how to control her pushing.
“How?” Magnolia’s clawed hand gripped her arm. “How did he know what to do?”
“I told him. And Magnolia? I quit.”
Shocked was not the best expression for her older sister. “You can’t quit, you ungrateful
little thorn in my ass. We had a fucking deal. You aren’t allowed to—”
A crowd of vampires and demons suddenly clustered around them, silencing her rant.
“Boys,” she cooed. “Did you enjoy the show? Or have you come to pay us for collecting
your vampire?”
Rose bit her lip at her sister’s gall. An old, slender vampire in an elegant suit
lifted one perfect brow in response. “We’ve come to inform you that you and your sisters
will no longer be on retainer as bounty hunters. We require a certain amount of dignity
and decorum among those in our employ, and we find we simply cannot allow this irresponsible
behavior to go unpunished. Particularly when
we
were victims of your pointless display of insanity.”
Magnolia took a step back, sneering. “No vampire forbids me to do anything. You aren’t
the only one hiring, bloodsucker.”
Rose recognized the short, dark-haired demon that stepped into the circle. Anyone
who ran in demonic circles would. “But I can,” he murmured, his red eyes brilliant.
“You and Ivy will be coming with me for…let’s call it rehabilitation. I’m going to
have a personal hand in your treatment.”
Her sister panicked and tried to run, but she was surrounded. In moments she and Ivy
were dragged forcibly off the stage by demons dark and intimidating enough to make
Rose shiver.
She almost felt sorry for them. Almost. At least Daisy and the others weren’t included
in the punishment.
The demon dipped his head in Rose’s direction. “I do believe you won this competition,
young Rose. Though I’ll admit I am disappointed I didn’t get to hear you sing, I’m
satisfied with the evening’s entertainment.” He turned as if to walk away, then hesitated.
“Tell Saint my debt to him is now paid. In full.”
Saint. She was going to owe him forever. “I’ll tell him.”
She turned to look for Mac and there he was, staring at her intently from the center
of the stage as two smaller vampires placed cuffs on his wrist.
“Wait.” She ran toward him, ignoring the shake of his head. “You can’t take him, damn
it.
Stop
.”
Her cousin, looking tousled with a few buttons missing from his shirt, and their shifter
friend Thomas both leapt onto the stage.
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Saint agreed genially. “You can’t take Mac anywhere.”
One of the vampires smirked. “And why is that, demon?”
“Because I’ll decapitate and eat the first corpse who tries,” Thomas growled beside
her.
“And in case you survive
that…
” Saint shuddered. “…I’ll empty all your bank accounts and sell your coffins on eBay.
That’ll sting, right?”
Rose reminded herself to hug both of them when this was over.
Mac shook his head again, but he was smiling. “Thank you, my friends, but this really
isn’t necessary.”
A tall, Nordic-looking vampire suddenly appeared beside them. Rose didn’t want to
stare, but she couldn’t help noticing his cape, which whipped dramatically around
his shoulders as he spoke. “No, it isn’t. But I suppose here will do as well as any
other place we could expend time and energy carting you off to. There are enough of
us present tonight to render judgment…and I was the one who initiated the recall for
Mac’s punishment.”
Rose saw Mac squint at the vampire in confusion. “Do I know you, sir?”
“No.” The vampire sighed in frustration. “But I know
you
. Everyone does. Since the cat’s damn reality show, if you aren’t a gloomy jackass
with a red beard and an air of gut-wrenching loneliness in your stride, you apparently
aren’t a real vampire.”
Saint snorted. “He does describe you pretty well, Mac.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
The blond shook his head. “I’ve been the head of promotions, marketing and advertising
for nearly eight hundred years, and in less than two, the three of you have destroyed
all my work.”
Mac narrowed his icy eyes. “That is you’re reason for sending hunters after me? For
taking me from my home?”
Saint whistled. “You vampires
all
have
stickuptheassitis
, don’t you? And you really take your promotional branding seriously. Eight hundred
years, huh?” He shook his head. “Maybe your department needs a fresh set of eyes.
You went from kicking ass and owning the night to diamond skin and a light cloud cover.
Have you had a vacation…like ever?”