not to draw attention from anyone.
Before I punctured his skin, though, a beaming light shone in my eyes.
“Hey, you there. What’s going on here?”
I quickly retracted my teeth and shielded my eyes against the illumination. The man was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, but he held up a badge.
A cop. A fucking cop. I inhaled. Dark chocolate, blackberry, and copper. Testosterone plus a sliver of milky estrogen. A really good-smelling cop—a cop with a vampire somewhere in his ancestry.
“I asked you a question. I’m Detective Jay Hamilton, NOPD. Is that man okay? Why doesn’t he have any clothes on?”
Close your eyes.
The homeless man complied.
“I…don’t know, Detective. I found him like this.”
“Looks like he’s out cold. I’m going to need to ask you a few questions, sir.”
Despite the heat of the night, a chill swept over the back of my neck. I suppressed an urge to look behind me.
“Not a good time.” I fled past, hoping I was still strong and quick enough to get away and that the cop would stay to help the homeless man.
The detective didn’t follow me, thank God, and a block later, I picked up a scent.
A blonde. No, a brunette with dark-blue eyes. A child. Not a child. Couldn’t do that. Now an older woman, a bad clotter. Iron and tin. Witch hazel and African violet. Traces of methamphetamine…
The tingles in my gums began again.
Blood. Lots of blood in a cramped space. A hospital or a blood bank was near.
I raced toward the aroma.
I raced toward life.
Two
Erin
“Female, early thirties, gunshot wound to the abdomen.”
“Thanks,” I said to the EMT as I took over bagging the patient. “Doc! Gunshot wound.”
Dr. Adele Thomas hurried over. “She’s a bleeder. Pull three units of O negative.”
“Right away.”
Shit! Where were all the orderlies? I’d have to do it myself. I scampered down the hall to the small refrigeration unit in the ER. Red gold, the docs called it. Other people’s blood saved lives every day. I’d seen it perform miracles. As a nurse, I donated as often as I could.
No O neg. Not a huge surprise. O negative was the universal donor. We used a lot of it in the ER when a patient’s life was at stake and we didn’t have time to do a blood panel. We had O positive, but I couldn’t take the chance. What if the patient was Rh negative? I had to go out of the ER to the University Hospital blood bank down the hallway.
The main hospital was just north of the French Quarter and was never quiet at night. I hoped I could get the blood and return quickly.
The door to the refrigerated blood bank was wide open. Not overly unusual, though no one but the ER staff would be grabbing blood in the middle of the night.
I walked in cautiously—
“Aauuhh!”
The high-pitched scream had come from me.
In a flash, a hand was clamped over my mouth.
A bloody hand.
“Easy,” a low voice said. “I won’t hurt you, but you can’t scream again. Do you understand me?”
My heart thundered, and my skin, already chilled from the cool temperature, turned icy. My breath came in rapid pants as blood from his hands oozed between my lips. Metal. Blech. I darted my gaze around the large unit. Blood. Everywhere. Bags had been ripped open, and blood dripped from the walls, pooling on the tiled floor.
Fear raced through me. Fear…and something else. Something I couldn’t identify. An invisible warmth was trying to relax me, almost like my mother’s kiss on my forehead when I was a child.
I fought against it and screamed again, this time muffled against his hand.
He clamped onto me more tightly. “Damn it! Why isn’t it working?”
Why wasn’t what working?
“You can’t scream again. I don’t want to harm you.”
I had no choice but to believe him. I was at his mercy. His strength was apparent as I tried to maneuver against him.
I wasn’t going to get away.
He brushed his cheek against my neck and inhaled. “What are you? You smell like…truffles. Black truffles. Black coffee. Dark chocolate. Hints of blackberry. Tin. Copper.”
“Mmm,” I said against his hand. His strange words, any other time, would have made me pause. Now? I was too frightened to give them any credence.
“Okay. I’m going to take my hand away. Don’t scream.” Slowly he released his hand.
And I screamed.
Back went his hand. “Damn it! Now what are we going to do?” He inhaled again. “Cabernet Sauvignon. Fuck. Fuck, you smell so good.”
His hand was lower on my mouth this time, and I bit into the top of it as hard as I could.
“Ouch!” He tore his hand away from me.
I turned to run out the door, but he blocked my exit.
A man. A man with black hair tangled around a face stained with blood. Eyes as dark as strong coffee stared at me. Not in a menacing way. In a pleading way.
“You have to help me.”
Without meaning to, I reached toward him and touched his cheek. Something pulled at me, forced me to do it, yet I wanted to touch him, wanted to feel him beneath my fingertips.
He whisked my hand away. “Don’t,” he said. “I won’t be able to control myself.”
“C-Control yourself?” My hand tingled. Had to touch him.
His stubbly cheeks were covered in blood, some of it already drying into brown, and more of the red fluid rimmed his full lips.
Continue reading Unchained:Blood Bond Saga Book One!
Message from Helen Hardt
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Breathless. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page: HelenHardt and join my mailing list: helenhardt/signup/. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here: groups/hardtandsoul/. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.
If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.
I wish you all the best!
Helen
Also By Helen Hardt
The Steel Brothers Saga:
Craving
Obsession
Possession
Melt
Burn
Surrender
Shattered
Twisted
Unraveled
Breathless
Ravenous (October 29, 2019)
Insatiable (January 28, 2020)
* * *
Blood Bond Saga:
Unchained: Volume One
Unhinged: Volume Two
Undaunted: Volume Three
Unmasked: Volume Four
Undefeated: Volume Five
* * *
Misadventures:
Misadventures of a Good Wife (with Meredith Wild)
Misadventures with a Rock Star
* * *
The Temptation Saga:
Tempting Dusty
Teasing Annie
Taking Catie
Taming Angelina
Treasuring Amber
Trusting Sydney
Tantalizing Maria
* * *
The Sex and the Season Series:
Lily and the Duke
Rose in Bloom
Lady Alexandra’s Lover
Sophie’s Voice
* * *
Daughters of the Prairie:
The Outlaw’s Angel
Lessons of the Heart
Song of the Raven
* * *
The Cougar Chronicles:
The Cowboy and the Cougar
Calendar Boy
* * *
Collections:
Destination Desire
Her Two Lovers
* * *
Non-Fiction:
got style?
Acknowledgments
Readers clamored for Marjorie’s story from the beginning, so I had my work cut out for me. I hope it meets and exceeds your expectations. I worried about writing it, but once I started, the words flowed better than they have in a while. Not since Craving have I enjoyed crafting a story so much. I loved revisiting the Steels, and we’re only just beginning. You’ll see more of Marj and Bryce in Ravenous, coming soon!
As always, no book is ever the result of only the author. Massive thanks to the following individuals whose effort and belief made this book shine: Jennifer Becker, Audrey Bobak, Dana Bridges, Haley Byrd, Yvonne Ellis, Jesse Kench, Robyn Lee, Jon Mac, Amber Maxwell, Dave McInerney, Michele Hamner Moore, Keli Jo Nida, Jenny Rarden, Chrissie Saunders, Scott Saunders, Celina Summers, Kurt Vachon, and Meredith Wild.
Thanks also to the women and men of Hardt and Soul. You all are my rock!
To my family and friends, thank you for your unwavering support.
And most importantly, thank you to my readers. None of this matters without all of you.