Red Stone of Passion Read online

  Neither outcome was acceptable.

  She ran to the left, her long, thick thighs eating the ground, increasing the space that separated them. Blaze let her go, knowing that the little space he gave her would cloud her head, make her think that she had lost him.

  When she got cocky she would make a mistake.

  After twenty minutes of running she stopped, slipping into the doorway of a simple, but luxurious townhouse.

  She had made her first mistake

  Blaze stood at the corner of the block for several moments readying himself. He pulled the ebony knit cloth over his face. Blaze knew that his prey had already spotted him, probably already memorised his face, but it wasn’t her he was worried about.

  The last thing he wanted was to be seen by the neighbours.

  He made his way to the townhouse.

  Blaze knew the exact moment she realised he had breached her fortress. She turned to him wearing only a sports bra and panties. His hungry eyes ate up the sight of her barely clothed body, taking in the long, strong length of her calves, the thickness of her mocha thighs, the flatness of her stomach, the heavy fullness of her breasts. And then there was that face that had made his heart jump in the middle of the dusky pub.

  Oval shaped and delicate, her face almost didn’t belong on her warrior’s body. Her milk chocolate skin was flawless. Her eyes were large, tilted up at the edges, and heavily lashed. Her Cupid’s bow lips were full and a naturally deep red colour and her midnight hair fell in a short bob around her face.

  She reminded him of a sexy kitten. Kitty Kat she was.

  His eyes dropped low. The silver light of the half moon glinted on the two double-edged blades in her hands.

  He didn’t know whether to get hard or get angry. She was like a wet dream come true, Blaze thought as he eyed her battle stance.

  “What is your name?” he growled as he circled her.

  She flinched at the question.

  Neither of them had been expecting it, but suddenly Blaze needed to know who she really was.

  Tension rode on the air. Sweat ran in rivulets down her mahogany skin. He followed one trail as it moved down her chest, over her belly to land beneath the elastic band of her panties.

  It was too much and not enough.

  He lunged for her.

  She threw up both deadly blades and aimed them straight for his head. Blaze blinked at the sight of the knives, surprised by their presence and the heat that curled through his body at the vision.

  With shocking speed Riana moved towards him. At the last minute, he threw up an arm and blocked her left sweeping arc inches from his face. He moved too late to prevent the right blade from making contact with his skin. The knife made a thin line across the right half of his face, cutting right through the ski mask he wore into the skin. He grimaced at the sharp, sweeping pain.

  The bloodthirsty woman gave him a heated, smug smile at the sight of his dripping blood. The smile chilled when the dark beauty realised his skin was healing right before her face.

  “What are you?” she sputtered.

  “What is your name?” he retorted before grabbing her around the waist and pulling her to him.

  At the last second he moved to the right, barely missing her knee. “Somebody’s been a bad girl,” he whispered against her neck. Blaze threw out two fists, knocking her knives from her hands. She gasped in shock, obviously surprised by his quick movements.

  The ebony warrior kicked high, connecting with his jaw and knocking his head back hard. For a second stars danced behind his eyes. “Damn, that hurt,” he growled in pain.

  Blaze grabbed her around the waist and flung her back against the wall. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. It whooshed through her full, parted lips in a gasp of shock and pain. In a flash of speed, Blaze was up against her before she got the chance to take a breath. He hated the fact that he had to hurt her in any way, but the woman refused to give up the fight. And he wasn’t about to just let her walk out of the townhouse.

  He moulded his body to his, mapping the mountains of her breasts, the plane of her stomach, the soft valleys of her thighs with his larger frame. She stilled against him. The musky scent of her fear, thick and addictive, clung to the pungent air that swam between them.

  It turned him on, but not nearly as much as the desire he could smell. It was just budding within her and with every moment it grew stronger.

  Blaze pulled off his ski mask and moved closer. “I don’t want to hurt you, little one,” he whispered. He was very aware that he was dealing with a cornered animal, a woman with her back, figuratively and literally, against the wall. One large, callused hand stroked her naked shoulder, following the curve to her tense bicep, over her arm, until he reached her wrist. He lifted her arm and placed it around his neck.

  She relaxed against him, letting her head fall back so that the strong column of her beautiful neck was revealed. He pressed his lips to the wildly beating pulse at the base of her throat.

  She shuddered against him.

  The movement ignited his arousal. Blaze pressed the growing bulge of his erection against the cradle between her thighs. She instinctively swivelled her hips, caressing him with the heat of her pussy.

  His fingers tangled in the strands of her hair. She glanced at him with a question on her luscious mouth. He took advantage of her parted lips and kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth.

  She was getting wet. The lips of her pussy were swollen. Blaze could smell her growing desire, the slight musk of her creamy cunt and it was too powerful to ignore.

  “Tell me your name, little one.” He whispered the words against lips that tasted like the sweetest honey.

  She smiled, eyes closed. “Kitty Kat.”

  Blaze understood a little of what his Kitty Kat was feeling. She lusted after him, but she didn’t trust him. Not enough to tell him her real name.

  Not that he could blame her.

  They were in the midst of a dangerous game. One he’d never played before. Never before had he been so driven towards a mark.

  His answering smile was a flash of light in the dark room. “Fine, we can keep playing that game, Kitty.”

  His Kitty Kat had not learned the hard lessons he’d been taught. She stilled beside him, telling him without words of her unease and confusion. He moved down her body, kneeling at her feet. After a moment her muscles relaxed. Blaze looked up and found her watching him.

  There were so many issues between them.

  The Red Stone of Passion.

  And secrets they each had to reveal.

  Blaze did not want to think that Kitty was the one who’d stolen the stone he’d been sent to retrieve. He sent up a silent prayer that she was a middleman as his fingers danced across her flesh.

  “Tell me you don’t want this and I will stop.”

  Passion shined in her deep brown eyes. “This doesn’t make sense.”

  “Lust never does.” Blaze curled his fingers over her simple white lace panties and pulled them down her hips. She quickly stepped out of them. His fingers wrapped around both thighs, spread her legs, and propped one on his shoulder.

  The first touch of his tongue to her pussy brought a moan to her succulent lips. Blaze followed the sound and swirled his tongue against the swollen nub at the apex of her sex.

  She shivered against him and shrieked. He smiled to himself. His hellcat was sensitive.

  He wrapped his lips around her passion bud and suckled her clitoris hard, flicking his tongue against it at the same time. Her fingers landed on his shoulders. Her nails dug into his skin, making Blaze painfully aware of just how much his touch excited her.

  He ran his tongue against the inside of her nether lips, south to north and then back down.

  “Oh God,” she moaned as she clung to him.

  Blaze couldn’t wait anymore to be inside of her. He slowly lowered her thigh from his shoulder, stood and grasped her waist.

  “Gods, you’re gorg
eous,” he growled against her lips before capturing her mouth in a torrid kiss. His free hand drifted between them to free his aching cock. He pressed the hard length to the parted lips of her sex.

  She shook her head. Dark hair flew around her face, a cloud of midnight silk. “Protection?”

  For a moment he considered telling her about his condition, what he was, but thought better of it. Now was not the time. He could barely formulate coherent thoughts with the wet, hot promise of her pussy inches away from him.

  He pulled a small red package from his back pocket, tore it open, and quickly fitted it over his erect cock.

  “Holy Shit!”

  He looked up to find his Kitty Kat staring at his rigid length in shock. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, he’ll fit. All ten inches of him.”

  Blaze grasped one of her thighs, lifted it slightly, and thrust the full length of his cock deep into her wet heat in one stroke. She groaned his name. The sultry, throaty sound reminded him of his name for her. Her nails clawed down his back, past his shirt, digging into his skin, as she pressed her hips to his, taking him deeper within her pussy.

  The scalding heat of her moist cunt shredded the little control he held over himself. She felt too good, too right, too perfect to ignore.

  He withdrew only to thrust back into her pussy.

  “Yes, just like that. Hard.”

  He brushed aside the strands of hair that were plastered to her sweaty face, caught her gaze and held it as he plundered her cunt, stroking inside of her to touch the indentation on the inside of her sex. She lowered her lashes and she screamed his name as her tight pussy convulsed around him.

  She was absolutely breathtaking when she found satisfaction. He had never seen a more beautiful sight, never wanted to please a woman more.

  Blaze blinked hard at the streak of pleasure of that shot through him when she climaxed. He ground his teeth and staved off the desire to come with her.

  “Let’s try that again.” He withdrew before surging back into her. He grunted with the force of his thrust as he fucked them both into a deep oblivion full of passion and pleasure.

  “Oh God, Blaze.”

  He continued his sensual assault with deliberate strokes. She pressed forward, her clit brushing against the underside of his clothed belly. Her legs shook, trembling against him. He pumped his hips harder and faster.

  She threw her head back and shrieked his name as her cunt broke out into powerful spasms around his turgid length, coercing him to come with her.

  The pounding pulse at the base of her throat called his name with a seductive, enchanting voice. The length of his canines increased. He growled low before piercing the skin with his fangs and drinking from her.

  She gasped when his teeth sunk into her flesh.

  Her blood tasted sweet, delicious and it was highly addictive. With every gulp he felt his cock harden more. With a roar he removed his fangs from her neck.

  Bloodlust!

  Blaze had searched his whole undead life, four hundred years to find his mate, and she was in his arms. The satisfaction he felt was almost overwhelming. Blaze had feared that he would never find his bloodlust. Now that he had he was never going to let her go.

  He knew the effect of the drink. Yet, he was shocked when a third orgasm shot through his Kitty Kat’s body, tightening her cunt pleasurably around him, milking another orgasm from his cock. He licked the twin holes on her neck, closing them with his saliva, and growled against her neck as he pulled her hips to him.

  Bodies slick, hearts pounding, he laid against her pliant body. After a few moments of catching his breath he looked down to find her staring at him.

  “What are you?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “Your mate.”

  Chapter Six

  God Bless The Dead

  Blaze had expected anger at his declaration. It wasn’t everyday that a masked man with the ability to suck blood claimed you were his eternal mate. He had not expected the flash of pain that lit her deep brown eyes. It made him shudder deep in his soul. Before he could think of a way to discover the source of her sorrow and coax her mind away from whatever thought had brought upon the rush of pain, she hissed at him. Her beautiful, full lips parted, her mouth widened and the white glare of her lengthened canines shined in the moonlight room.

  He paused at the sight of her canines. Blaze had known from the moment he scented Riana in the nightclub their first night that she was different, an Other. She didn’t smell like a human and she didn’t wear the distinct scent of a vampire or werewolf. After seeing her lengthened canines he knew she had to be some kind of shifter, a breed he’d never run across.

  Vampire strength or not, Blaze knew enough to know not to mess with an angry, hurt woman. He took an instinctive step back.

  It was a mistake. The moment his body wasn’t touching hers, she transformed, taking on the shape of a large black cat with gold rosettes peppered all over her fur.

  He stared at her shocked. He had been chasing the infamous Jacquard Jaguar, one of the world’s most notorious jewel thieves.

  And she was his bloodlust!

  She growled and pounced. At the last moment, Blaze stepped to the side and narrowly missed having her run him over. When he turned she was out the room and down the hall.

  * * * *

  Ishmael saw the gigantic black and gold cat the moment it burst through the townhouse window. He’d scented Riana and a male, a preternatural male, back to her townhouse. Thus, he’d been prepared for the sight of the massive blond man running down her front steps. The cat on the other hand made him pause. But only for a moment.

  Ishmael took a deep breath and took in the scent that was distinctly Riana’s. It came from the jaguar. During their date, Ishmael had recognized that Riana’s scent was different than most humans. He knew she wasn’t a werewolf and hadn’t been able to place her scent among the family of shifters he knew. Now, he realized why. Ishmael had yet to run into a jaguar shifter.

  Without another thought he shifted, changing form into that of a large, dark wolf. He took off after the cat, following behind her, but staying out of the sight of the male.

  He and the blond both lost sight of Riana a mile from the townhouse when she darted into a veterinary clinic in the form of a nondescript mixed breed housecat. He had tried following her scent, but had lost it within the clinic.

  He had to give it to her, she was smart.

  * * * *

  Hours later, Riana sat in a luxurious private room on a train leaving France. She hadn’t bothered to go back for any of her stuff. She had called Daphnia and requested that the lead agent send a discreet team out to clear her house and send her stuff to her permanent address.

  Daphnia hadn’t asked her why she couldn’t move herself. She hadn’t even blinked when Riana told her she needed a new identity and funds. Riana suspected the omnipotent one already knew about her run in with the vampire. Unfortunately, Celeste had not been as unconcerned when Riana showed up at her flat in her bestial form. After Riana shifted back, Celeste took one look at her face and knew something was wrong. Once Celeste had Riana dressed and fed, she asked an endless amount of questions, determined to figure out why Riana was so upset and how she could make her feel better.

  Riana had, of course, ended up telling Celeste everything.

  Her pussy moistened and she trembled as she thought about the gorgeous blond she had allowed to take her against her wall.

  The sex had been good, fantastic even. She had come three times with him. Three times!

  Before Blaze, Riana had thought she would have to settle for slight tremors between the sheets, but he had rocked her world.

  A vampire!

  With her ability she knew there were people in the world who weren’t exactly normal, but vampires…

  Riana stared out the Plexiglas window as she remembered the sight of his fangs. A buzz broke through her thoughts of her nocturnal lover.

  She pulled her new digital comm
unicator out of her breast pocket and pressed her thumb to the screen. Celeste immediately appeared on the screen.

  “You will no longer be meeting Olympia at the scheduled drop off site.”

  Riana stared at the screen for several seconds. They had never changed plans during a mission unless they were forced too. Tendrils of apprehension ran down her spine.

  “What went wrong?”

  Celeste sighed. “Nothing, Waters wants to meet you. The drop off site is not safe for her.”

  “She wants to meet me?”

  “Yes, you specifically. She asked for you by name, Riana.”

  The screen blackened before Riana got out a word. She slid the communicator across the tabletop and headed for the sleeping area. She undressed until the only layer of clothing she wore was the thin band of bulletproof cloth that doubled as a bra and carrier. She pulled the large rock from the hidden compartment beneath her left cup.

  The gemstone felt warm in her hands, warmer than her body heat. It felt alive. An inescapable need demanded that she bring it to her face. Lights danced in the middle of the blood red stone. She instinctively knew that the lights were a reflection of the passion in her heart.

  “I hear your cry and I answer your prayers.”

  The softly spoken words were ancient, cultured by wisdom and understanding. Riana brought the stone closer to her.

  “Your heart cries out for your greatest desire.” The husky words thundered in her mind.

  She heeded the unspoken command and placed the gemstone against her skin, against her wildly beating heart. The room exploded in a blinding red light that left her with unseeing eyes. But in her mind’s eye she saw so clearly the picture of her greatest desire.

  The room was dark, barely lit by the assortment of scented candles that littered the tabletops. She sat in the middle of the bedroom on a large, featherbed.

  She waited for her lovers.

  As if they heard her silent plea, they came to her, standing side by side in the large doorway. They were equally handsome, beautiful actually, with their masculine grace and sexuality.