HerVampireLover Read online

  He released her, grimacing. “It’s not safe for you here. You must come with me.”

  She didn’t like his commanding tone and a thread of fear ran up her spine. “Are you telling me that truck was trying to run me over?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you know that man who carried my wood?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you give me more information than one word replies?” She looked around for a policeman. “I’m calling the cops.” She reached into her purse for her cell phone.

  He grabbed her hand. “Don’t. Cat, I’m here to help you.”

  “You’re serious, right? That man tried to kill me? Why? I’ve never seen him before in my life.” She suddenly felt queasy with fear.

  “They’ve been following you.”

  “Why?”

  “This could be a case of mistaken identity, but now I’m not so sure,” he murmured in a deep, hypnotic tone, his dark, smoldering gaze running over her features. He seemed disturbed, surprised at some private revelation. The hazy clouds shifted and a ray of sunlight fell on them. He flinched, his jaw tightening, and Cat frowned as she watched him cast an irritated look up at the sky.

  She ran a frantic glance around her for anyone who could help her. The distant sound of a siren calmed her down. “Why have they been following me? And how do you know my name?”

  He glanced toward the sound of the police siren and gave her a dark look. “We have to leave. I cannot explain everything to you now. We’ll go back to your cabin.”

  Her fear turned to panic. Did this man know where she was staying? She heard the siren grow closer and relief washed over her when she spotted a cop car slow to a stop a few feet away from them.

  “I don’t know who you are, but you obviously know me. I want you to leave me alone before I tell the cop to…to arrest you for attempted murder.”

  The man reached for her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes. “No, Cat, you won’t,” he murmured.

  She wanted to run, but she couldn’t move or speak as she stared up into his dark gaze, his pupils so black they looked opaque. A strange peace enveloped her as the cop neared her side. A veil of calm draped her body and soothed her tension away, pacifying her, relaxing her. Her mind warred with the heady calm surrounding her, and a small recess at the back of her mind jolted in surprise. His eyes. Oh, my God, was he doing this to her with his eyes?

  “Miss, we got a call that there was a possible hit and run. Are you all right?” the policeman asked.

  The stranger put his arm around Cat, and she continued to feel mesmerized, drugged, as if her actions weren’t her own and someone—or something—was in complete control over her. Cat looked up at the cop and smiled stiffly. “I’m…I’m fine. This man saved me. I didn’t get a look at the truck’s license plate, but—”

  “The plate was six seven four R T three,” her rescuer told the cop. “It was a two door, blue ninety-eight Ford, and the passenger door had a dent.”

  The cop jotted everything down in his black notebook. “Thank you. I’ll run this through dispatch and see if we can come up with anything.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  Cat couldn’t find her voice. She couldn’t move. She tried to get the cop’s attention with her eyes, but he was looking at the stranger, asking him if he had a good look at the driver.

  “Where can we reach you?” the cop asked him after jotting more notes in his pad.

  “About fifty miles out at six-seven-five Newberry Road. The phone number is five-five- five- nine-zero-seven-eight.”

  Cat would have gasped if she hadn’t felt so leaden and trapped. The cop went back to his patrol car and drove off. Slowly, she felt her body return to normal, and she gasped for air as she stumbled out of his arms. What had he done to her?

  “Don’t come any closer—”

  “Cat, wait—”

  “No. I’ll scream.”

  She ran to the Hummer and jumped into the driver’s seat. She had to get the Hell out of here. When she returned to the cabin, she was going to pack her bags and leave. He knew where she was staying.

  She glanced at her rear view mirror and saw the stranger standing where she left him, his tall, muscular frame motionless as he watched her start the Hummer. Another ray of sunlight hit him, and she frowned as he covered his face and disappeared from sight. She floored the gas.

  The drive back was a blur. Cat tried calling the cops on her cell phone, but she couldn’t get a connection, and she threw the phone in disgust on the seat beside her. What a perfect time to lose service. As soon as she reached the cabin, she went straight for the landline. It was dead. A cold dread crept up her spine. She knew Mel always paid her bills on time. She was one of those people who were meticulous with their personal affairs and Cat knew Mel would never allow her phone to get disconnected.

  She ran to lock the front door, checked all the windows, and scrambled through Mel’s cabin as she grabbed all her things and threw them in her suitcases. By the time everything was packed, a good thirty minutes had passed and her heart was racing a mile a minute.

  Cat carried her bags to the door and stepped outside, locking the door behind her. With her heart lodged in her throat, she carried her bags to her BMW and threw them in the trunk. She jumped into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition. Nothing. The engine rolled and rolled without starting. She started the car again and still nothing.

  Cat took a deep breath, trying to calm her frayed nerves.

  Quickly, she decided to take Mel’s Hummer. After a few more minutes of gathering her bags, she tossed them into the vehicle and stumbled into the front seat. She turned on the ignition, and again, nothing happened. The engine turned, but didn’t start. Paranoia settled in. Cat didn’t think this was a coincidence, and she choked back on a rising sob as she jumped out of the Hummer and ran to the hood. She popped it open and gaped at the hatchet job someone had done to the engine. She looked around her, her eyes wide with fear.

  Her gaze froze on the heavyset man standing a few feet away from her. He held a gun in one hand and a sharp wooden stake in the other. Slowly, he raised the gun and pointed it at her, and Cat screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Terrified, she ran behind the Hummer as the man fired a shot. It missed her and hit the windshield, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

  Oh, my God! He was going to kill her! “What do you want?” she yelled from where she crouched behind the Hummer.

  She heard him crunching through the snow as he made his way toward her. She had nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. What was she going to do? She couldn’t outrun a bullet. She couldn’t vanish into thin air. Cat saw her life flash before her eyes and began to sob.

  He loomed over her as she stared up at his face, her lips trembling with her unspoken plea. His expression was filled with such malevolent hatred, her legs gave way, and she fell on the snow.

  “Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?” she cried.

  He tucked the gun into his pocket and raised the stake. “To rid the world of foul, evil creatures like you. And after I kill you, Tobias Knight will be next.”

  “No!” She screamed again, shrinking back with terror. At the back of her mind, she registered the heavyset man had called her rescuer Knight.

  He came closer, his expression darkening with hate and rage as he raised the stake above his head. “Die, bitch.”

  Cat’s heart stopped as a familiar flash of darkness swooped down on the man. She choked on a gasp and stared at the handsome stranger who’d saved her earlier. Tobias Knight. She didn’t have time to register where he had appeared from or how he moved so fast. All she could do was gape at him as he grabbed the heavyset man by the hair and pulled his head all the way back.

  “It’s over, Granger,” he growled.

  Tobias’s face glowed with danger, his eyes flashed fire, and he opened his mouth, baring two long, pointy incisors. Something dark and sinister registered at the back of Cat’s mind, but she c
ouldn’t believe the implication. His eyes were wild with rage as he bit down on the man’s neck. Paralyzed with fear, she gaped at the scene.

  She caught another movement behind Tobias and saw two men coming into view, a young man in a dark parka and an older man wearing a thick blue coat. They both carried crossbows with wooden stakes.

  “Father!” the younger man yelled. He pointed his crossbow at Tobias.

  “Look out!” Cat yelled. She couldn’t fathom why she was helping—tremors ran through her—a…a…vampire? What else could he be? Who had two-inch long fangs and moved like lightening? And what about the glow around his face? That eerie, pale, radiance that made his skin gleam. What about earlier, when he had done some weird mind meld thing and she couldn’t speak to the policeman? Cat began to hyperventilate.

  Tobias let the limp body of the heavyset man fall to the ground and he spun around to the young man pointing the crossbow at him.

  She gaped at Tobias’s pale face and bloodied mouth. He looked more animal than human, wild and dangerous as he hissed at the two men.

  “I didn’t kill him,” he said harshly, “but he will be out for a few days. Take his body back to where you came from and hope you never see me again, because the next time you do, I will kill you.”

  She watched him spring with inhuman speed toward the men and disarm them of their weapons. Then he returned to the heavyset man’s body and lifted him with one hand, flinging him at the two men as though he weighed no more than a bag of feathers.

  “Go back to your family, Grangers,” he growled. “Tell the Elder he did not accomplish what he wanted. And tell him,” he added harshly, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “If any one of you ever comes within a hundred feet of this woman, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

  Cat watched the two men whimper and scamper away, dragging the unconscious man, their faces pale from fright. They disappeared around the cabin, and Cat heard an engine start and roar away.

  She couldn’t breathe. She was weak and knew she was dangerously close to passing out. She fought for air in her lungs, struggling to stand. Her body swayed, the light dimming before her eyes. The last thing she saw before she fainted dead away was Tobias Knight bending toward her, lifting her in his arms, his incisors gone.

  Her fantasy man was a vampire, she thought numbly as she slumped her head onto his shoulder, a strangled moan escaping her lips.

  Chapter Three

  The familiar hypnotic veil soothed her as a pair of strong hands undressed her and placed her in bed. A blanket covered her.

  “Sleep now. We will talk when you awake,” the beautiful, deep male voice said.

  Cat fell into oblivion.

  She stirred from her dreamless sleep and opened her eyes, frowning at the strange sounds coming from the living room. They were a mixture of thuds and thick fabric ripping. A cold sensation crept up her spine.

  The terrifying events in town and later at the cabin raced through her mind, causing her stomach jolt with fear. Someone was in her living room. She slipped out of bed and glanced down at her naked body, stiffening as she recalled the hands undressing her. She reached for her white, satin robe.

  The strange sounds continued and she frantically scanned the room looking for a weapon. She grabbed Mel’s brass candelabra from the dresser and made her way to the living room.

  She stopped dead in her track, her breath catching.

  Tobias stood before the fireplace, ripping and tearing firewood with his bare hands as he placed them on the rack. She watched him visibly stiffen, drop the wood, and slowly turn around. Cat felt her heart skip a beat as he ran a dark intense gaze over her appearance. The candelabra slipped through her hands and fell to the floor.

  His gaze was like fire on her skin, leaving a trail of heat from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She had the strangest feeling he was undressing her with his eyes. She sensed a sexual awareness, almost primal in nature, emanating from him.

  “I retrieved your wood from the curb,” he offered slowly, his gaze dropping to her breasts.

  “Oh,” she replied huskily, feeling like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. “Who are you?”

  “Tobias Knight.”

  She gulped. She had meant to ask him, what are you? “Are you…you’re a vampire.” She couldn’t believe she announced that as calmly as she announced the weather.

  “Yes.”

  The knowledge left her feeling strangely calm. “What do you want with me?”

  He had already removed his black coat, and she let her gaze flicker over his tall and muscular physique clad in a black shirt and black pants. Fear wound its way around her.

  Just as suddenly, a strange, eerie calm surrounded her, as though invisible hands were soothing her fears away. She darted a nervous glance at the front door, then looked down at the candelabra on the floor by her feet. The invisible hands continued their path along her shoulders, down her back, around her waist, up to her breasts. Cat gasped. A tremor shot through her body as her breasts were fondled and her breath hitched in her throat.

  Tobias’s dark gaze held her captive as her blood began to pound in her ears. He was calming her and arousing her at the same time and she could do nothing about it, trapped within his invisible hands.

  His touch moved lower over her belly down to the spot where her legs met, and she inhaled sharply. He caressed her, stroked her, and her legs were dangerously close to giving out. Tobias’s expression shifted and she watched a fierce, ruthless look cast a menacing shadow across his face. He groaned roughly from deep within his throat, but Cat couldn’t pay too much attention to him because his invisible hands were beginning to drive her mad with desire.

  With grim determination on his face, he strode to her and grabbed the collar of her robe. He shoved it over her shoulders and let it drop in a pool of satin to the floor. Grim-faced, he lifted her naked body into his arms.

  “Is it really you?” he asked, his voice hoarse with need.

  She wanted to ask him what he was talking about, but she couldn’t find her voice. She leaned her head onto his massive shoulder and closed her eyes, her body tingling with desire.

  He carried her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed, his expression fierce with need. A tremor of anticipation shot through her as his gaze rested on her breasts.

  This was a dream. How else could she explain the hypnotic, trancelike state she was in? And how could she explain her fantasy man here in the flesh? How could she explain any of it? The fangs, the crazy men who tried to kill her, her fantasy man who was now watching her with a look that left her breathless?

  All she knew was that she wanted him, her fantasy man. “Take off your clothes,” she said huskily.

  “Say my name. Say it,” he ground out.

  “Tobias,” she whispered.

  His expression softened, and he began to remove his clothes. Cat lay back in awe as she watched his masculine splendor revealed. His body was magnificent, all muscle and brawn, with a powerfully built chest and chiseled arms. His legs were long and well built, and his sex stood erect, a powerfully looking member that parted her lips in wonder.

  The only other man she had ever had sex with was Simon, and he didn’t even compare to this man’s virility. Fear took on a new form for her, and she started to feel the hands work their magic again with her body, her heart, her mind. Only this time, they were withdrawing.

  “When I take you,” he said, “I do not want you under my spell. I want you to come to me willingly.”

  As the calming veil lifted and his invisible, bone-melting caresses stopped, she watched him lower his body over hers—then real panic started to settle in. Fear replaced calm and alarm replaced passion as reality slammed her with its cold truth. Terrified, she realized her fantasy man was going to rape her.

  She opened her mouth to scream, but his punishing kiss silenced the sound. His body was warm and firm over hers, his lips bruising hers, and she struggled beneath his weight. She tried pushing h
im away, but it was like an ant pushing an anvil and she pounded on his back in frustration. He didn’t relent. His kiss was deep and his powerful erection pressed hard against her heated flesh.

  He grabbed her hands and dragged them above her head as he raised his head and looked down at her face. She was trapped. With his knee, he pushed her legs apart and her flesh throbbed with exquisite pain where his erection rested.

  “Don’t fight me. We have both waited too long for this.”

  “Stop!” Gasping, she stared at his brilliant dark eyes, her heart pounding in her throat, her mind racing toward madness as her body tingled with sexual need. “Don’t…don’t do this.”

  “Is it truly you, Seraphina? Tell me it’s you,” he said hoarsely.

  “My name is Cat,” she replied, feeling a spurt of annoyance.

  “Yes. You are Cat,” he countered, his voice dropping to a lower timbre.

  She panicked as his eyes bore down on hers, his expression ruthless and fierce. “You said you wanted me to come to you willingly. I’m not willing. Now, get off me!”

  A satisfied gleam entered his gaze. “I can feel your body flaming at my touch. I can hear your heart beating with excitement. My little erotica writer. When I saw your picture on your book jacket, I refused to believe it was possible.” He bent his dark head and took her breast in his mouth, sucking hard on her nipple. She cried out in pleasure, tossing her head from side to side.

  She was enjoying this! This man was forcing himself on her, and she was actually enjoying it! She tried to free her trapped hands from above her head, but he kept his grip firm, bruising her wrists.

  “Please. Don’t,” she pleaded.

  “You are mine. You have always been mine. And after tonight, we will never be separated again.”

  “You’re crazy. No!”

  Her body was saying yes as it trembled with need. He pushed her legs further apart, opening her wider for him, and positioned himself in between her. He freed her hands and cupped her face, bringing his mouth down to covers hers in a hot, passionate kiss. Against her own volition, she opened her mouth and their tongues met, his plunging deep. She felt crazed, out of control, her only thought to satiate the mounting heat throbbing between her legs. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he groaned hoarsely against her lips.