Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,49

saw Niall’s tawny eyes glitter in the dim light, not without sympathy. “No sense lying. Ye know that.”

“Of course. I . . . it’s hard to wake up. I don’t dream with the pills, but . . .” Yet that darkness became the nightmare. A coffin, endless death. When it became too much and she wanted to scream, she couldn’t, as if her lungs had stopped functioning. She was a corpse, unable to react, or make a sound. The pills also made her groggy, an unacceptable state if she was to perform her duties.

She deserved to be up here in the woods in this totally unorthodox situation, because she was obviously coming apart at the seams, something no InhServ would ever do.

“Come up here.” He’d moved, was standing over her. All he wore was a pair of worn flannel boxers, the elastic shot so they hung low on his hips. When she started to rise, he squatted down, bringing a wall of chest muscle into her field of vision, as well as the faintly sweaty but welcome male scent of him. “Put your arms around my neck, muirnín. We’re going on a little trip.”

He lifted her the way he might lift a child, fitting her to the front of his body, guiding her legs around his hips, his palms cradling her bottom and the small of her back. It was natural to slide her arms all the way around his shoulders, her face pressed into his neck. She was tired.

He rubbed her back as he maneuvered out of the room and down the hallway toward the back bedroom. She remembered he’d said this back room was suitable for Evan, at least for early morning. Since it was overcast, she wondered if he’d be there, but when she didn’t sense him, she realized he was probably still in the cellar, working on the day’s pictures.

It was a large bed, the headboard a crisscross of tied branches, interwoven with a string of small white lights that cast a dim light in the room. Niall sat down with her straddling his lap, her knees pressed into the mussed covers.

Stroking her hair away to massage her nape, he continued to hold her that way, her head resting on his shoulder, face pressed into his neck. She remembered her thoughts and dreams, the yearning, and felt an unsolicited contraction between her legs at the position. His cock was firm and promising beneath her, making her want to rub. Knowing she would die of mortification if she did such a thing, she tensed, determined to lock down even the most innocuous twitch. Niall’s arms tightened around her, a brief warning before he shifted her. Now they were lying down, her body spooned inside the shelter of his.

“Why don’t ye sleep here with me for a bit? Maybe having someone warm and breathing next to ye will help with the sleep. Imagine I’m a big, smelly bear.”

Her lips quivered against that near smile she kept experiencing around him. With the only thing between them being her thin nightgown and his flannel shorts, there was a great deal of long thigh against the back of hers, his hard furred chest against her shoulders. It was natural to shift her hips closer, pressing her backside to the heat of his groin.

“You keep wiggling like that, muirnín, you’ll get us both in trouble. Easy now. Just sleep.”

Bit by bit, she relaxed. When he put an arm around her waist, cinching her in closer despite his warning, he nuzzled her hair. Settling his head deeper into the pillow, he blew through the loose strands as if they were in his way. It made her squirm, and he tightened his arm, blew on her some more, tickling her neck.

“Stop it,” she told him. Warmth settled in her lower belly when his chuckle rumbled against her back.

He had that smell of forest and earth, like Evan. Beneath whatever shampoos, colognes or body washes they used, most vampires smelled of dry, cool . . . nothing. Another reason they were called the undead in lore and legend. Of course, having to dispose of Stephen’s annual kill for him for ten consecutive years, she could say for an unpleasant fact the dead did not smell like nothing.

The Council allowed every vampire to take thirteen human lives per year without consequences, as long as they observed the protocols for remaining undetected by the human world, but only one of those deaths was necessary. The annual kill.