Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,1

hardly as sharp as the guys’, mine could pierce skin—Maddox’s, Fin’s, Rogue’s, and Alfred’s. The night before had also marked the first time since my arrival I hadn’t been drained nor needed to feed on any of them.

My transition or whatever was complete.

Not that Alfred—the asshole—had said a word. He’d merely cupped my chin, then stared at me for a long moment before he’d nodded and left me alone. Not a single sentence or utterance.

Fin crept in when I’d been working out my next steps, and he’d curled around me, asking for nothing, and even as hard as I tried to ignore him—it made me feel like the bad guy.

Why the fuck did I feel even an ounce of guilt over these guys? They didn’t deserve it.

What little loyalty I’d been cultivating died a swift and painful death the day Alfred found me in this garden. Not once had he bitten me anywhere but my neck. The flattened scar pulsed at the memory.

I hated him for that, too.

Aggravation struck flint inside of me, kindling a whole new fire. The door opened, the creak of it the only warning before the scent of coffee teased at my nose, but I didn’t bother with turning to look.

The rough scrape of denim over rock rasped in the bitterly cold air as the dragon settled next to me. The heat rolling off him buffeted the chill I’d been ignoring, and it took everything I had not to lean into him. Then he cheated and held the oversized tumbler of coffee in front of me.

Half of my grumpy fled when face to face with the giver of life. Shut up, I was more than aware of the irony. Yes, I was a vampire and a succubus, and coffee was the secret key to my soul.

Tipping my head to the side, I met his quiet gaze and did my damnedest to ignore the hope flaring in his eyes. The barest hint of a smile touched the corners of his lips. “Good morning, Kitten.”

My fingers collided with his as I took the tumbler, and he didn’t pull away as we both lifted it to my lips, nor did he look away as I took a long swallow of it. Of the four of them, Maddox was the one who’d been kept away the most. Alfred blocked him time and again.

This was the first time we’d been alone together since Alfred woke. Sighing, I lowered the tumbler and leaned my head against his shoulder. Maddox half-sagged as if someone cut the string on all his tension. He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me close.

“You’re better,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my crown. It wasn’t a question. I was better. The soreness and the exhaustion were both gone. The sting from so many half-healed bites had been erased along with their marks on me.

“I suppose,” was all I’d comment on that, but I couldn’t help the “Missed me?” I added on.

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t even have to explain it. Alfred—the asshole—controlled everything. Apparently, even them. Though he didn’t throw Alfred under the bus.

“I’m here now,” he offered. “What can I get for you?”

Since he brought me coffee, I really didn’t need anything else. Well, at least nothing I would ask him for. I wanted to leave. But anytime I brought that up, there were always reasons I couldn’t.

I needed to finish transition.

I needed to have the shadow taint purged from me.

I needed to accept what I was.

I needed to be a vampire.

Well, mission fucking accomplished. But a million dollars said they wouldn’t let me leave now. Not with all the changes to the keep going on. It was open and airy now. Fires burned in many of the fireplaces. A generator had been added, and Fin even brought in a huge screened television and DVD player. No digital, not yet.

I guess WiFi was hard to get in Shangri-fucking-la.

“Nothing.”

“Kitten,” Maddox prodded gently, pressing another kiss to my hair and igniting a wave of tenderness I fought to ignore. I would not go soft on the dragon. I didn’t ask for this. “Tell me something I can do for you.”

The note of pleading wormed its way under my skin, and I scowled. I pictured his face when I slammed my knee into his nuts in that cell. The anger in his voice when he caught up to me, and the rumble of his growl