Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,33

sun.

“How about you tell me what you’re doing working with Orion?”

"We’re business partners,” he answered me, smirking through his lie.

Before I knew it, his arm swept around my back, pulling me to him, our bodies pressing together.

My hands snapped up to push against his chest. His rock hard muscles flexed under my touch.

He inhaled the air, then narrowed his gaze on me. “There’s something different about you than the other humans, isn’t there? But what is it?”

I refused to tell him anything about myself, and I instinctually shoved him, but it was too late to stop losing myself to him or end the feelings he roused deep inside me. He gripped me with enough to strength to know escaping wouldn't be easy, though at the same time, his sheer size and power sent an explosion of butterflies through my stomach.

One touch and I forgot the danger he posed. His hand stroked across my lower back, leaving a streak of fire in its wake.

His face was inches from mine, and I was breathless. I should knee him in the balls and turn away, yet I let myself stay in his arms a bit longer.

"Tell me when to stop," he teased, and his words lit me up from the inside. "I promise to go slow at first."

A flush flared over my body, and as much as I wanted him to do the things he promised in his eyes, it wasn't going to happen.

I drove strength behind my hands and pushed against his chest. "Let me go!"

His hand fell away, and I stumbled from his grasp. Gasping for air, my whole body tingled with a need I refused to acknowledge.

I clenched my hands by my side. "You can't just go around taking what you want."

"That's where you're wrong."

I shook my head. "Just keep out of my way, okay." I swung away, trembling from how easily he affected me, just as a small gust of warm air rushed across my back.

I glanced over my shoulder and Seth was gone. Yet the earlier arousal still pulsed deep in my core. What was wrong with me?

Turning around, I headed down the street and kicked myself for letting Seth get under my skin. He knew exactly what he was doing, and I fell royally for his tricks.

Asshole.

Chapter 11

Orion

Black coffee was the only mortal indulgence I entertained on a regular basis. Its caffeinated bitterness ran through bloodless veins like a small electric shock, giving everything an edge that was just a little bit sharper. I liked to think it helped me see the world through human eyes.

The brewing and drinking of my coffee had become almost ritualistic in a sense. I had gotten the process down to an art, designed to produce a cup exactly the way I liked it. I was in the middle of pouring the water over a mound of fresh grounds when the front door of the house slammed open. In moments, the pleasantly cutting scent of my coffee was overwhelmed by acrid brimstone.

“We need to talk,” Seth snarled from the kitchen doorway. “You and me. Right now.”

“Nothing’s stopping you.” I chose not to turn around. Though it was essential to his very demonic nature and had been from the start, Seth’s uncouth manner grated on my nerves more than anything else had in centuries. He knew nothing of respect, nor how to address his superior.

“A pack of your dirty little psychopaths tried to take me out just now.” He slammed his fist into the doorframe. The house quaked. “You got anything to say about that?”

“Surely you didn’t allow them to think they stood a chance?” He wore the minor marks of a skirmish, not least of which was the purple bruise under his left eye. Its hue contrasted nicely with his reddish skin. “Don’t tell me—that one was free, right?”

He stormed across the threshold toward me. “Listen up, Supreme Leader. If you don’t get your worthless pack of miscreants under control, I’ll call off our arrangement. And then you’d better watch your back.”

That was enough to capture all of my attention. I set the empty kettle on the countertop and met his furious gaze. A matching rage had begun to simmer inside of me, but I held it down. The scaffolding of future plans hung in the balance.

“Are you insinuating that I sent them after you?” I asked calmly. “As if I’ve forgotten who my allies are? I apologize if they didn’t observe proper etiquette toward you. Sometimes the clan’s manners come up