I barely suppressed a nervous laugh. Better? How could it be better? I wasn’t entirely certain I would survive better. But I let him pull me along when he started back down the hall.

I’d made my bed—not something I could usually claim on a weekday, so I was glad I’d taken the time. Though I was pretty sure Aidan wouldn’t have minded messy sheets.

He brushed his lips over mine when he pulled me back into his arms. Soft on my back, his fingers ran lightly over my still-covered skin. I stepped back when he broke the kiss and slowly unbuttoned my blouse, conscious of his eyes on me, and of the light still on overhead. I reached the last button and then let the shirt drop to the floor, watching him expectantly.

He smiled at me, and the look was somehow warmer than his normal grin. He pulled his shirt over his head. Then pulled down his jeans, leaving only boxer briefs to cover what I didn’t need my imagination to envision. His body was hard, chiseled, but not so developed he looked like the only place he spent time was the gym.

Drinking him in with my eyes, I wondered what he thought of when he looked at me. Did he see a banshee, or a woman? A niggling doubt touched my thoughts. Was I just another lay he’d barely remember a year from now?

I pushed the thought away. For better or worse, I’d decided to sleep with him. Only time would show what he decided to do with that trust. I unbuttoned my pants, tugged them down over my hips, and let them fall to the floor before stepping out of them. Only a second passed before he stopped taking me in with his eyes. Then he took me into his arms.

He kissed me for a few moments before lifting me up against his hard chest and placing me carefully on the bed. Covering my body with his, he trailed his way down my neck, kissing and nibbling. His face was rough against my skin and I could feel he hadn’t shaved in a day, at least. He slid a hand up and lightly touched my inner thighs, almost tickling, and then he palmed me. I gripped his broad shoulders, digging my fingers into his skin.

His touch was firm, but not rough, and I strained against him, trying to make him press harder. I couldn’t help myself from seeking the release I knew he could grant me. But he pulled back as I pushed forward, and then moved closer again when I relaxed, torturing me.

“Kiera,” he whispered, and as he pressed his hand more firmly against me, I gasped.

The rest of our clothing disappeared under his expert hands. He lowered his head to trail kisses down my side, before nipping at my hip bone.

Screw this. No way was he always going to be in control.

I pushed at his shoulders and he looked up at me, brows furrowed in confusion. But when I nudged him down onto his back and bent my head to kiss and nibble my way down his chest, tasting his slightly damp skin, his breath caught and his eyes widened. He dropped his head back when I lowered my face and licked his hip bone, biting and kissing my way to his erection. And when I took him into my mouth, he groaned.

“Yes,” he said, breathless.

I tortured him with my mouth, the way he’d tortured me with his. Speeding up until he was at the brink, and then slowing down. He gripped my hair in one hand, keeping it out of my face rather than using it to direct me. He knew I needed this, needed the control, needed him to want me as badly as I wanted him.

His eyes met mine, and with a final, long lick, I released him. Settling on top, I rubbed myself against his hardness, but didn’t take him inside of me.

“Kiera.” He spoke my name softly, and there was the hint of a question in his voice.

I just looked at him.

“Will you let me drink from you, just a little bit?”

I tried to grasp what Marisol had said about joining with a succubus, because I knew the same rules would apply to an incubus, but my mind shied from it. He wasn’t going to drain me to death, after all. But in the back of my head I wondered if the process would bond us. I buried the thought, smothering that dangerous desire.

And part of me, a small part, wanted to feel what the victims felt before they died. What Amanda felt. I would get part of him too, that’s what Marisol said. If he was hiding something from me, would this reveal that? I wouldn’t be helpless, after all. I wasn’t under thrall. If he started to take too much, I’d show him exactly how loudly I could scream.

Just a taste, he said, and I so badly wanted him to taste me.

“Yes. Do it,” I said.

If I hadn’t been expecting it, I might not have noticed anything. As I edged my hips up from him, something touched me, very softly. As he eased his cock into me, something of him eased into me psychically as well. Heat built in my chest and in my stomach, and for a brief moment, I felt safe and warm and home.

Aidan distracted me from the subtle, but powerful feeling by starting an equally powerful sensation within me. I moved against him, a slow rhythm designed to torture us both, savoring the sensation of him rocking against me. He cupped my breasts as I moved, rubbing and squeezing them gently.

Finally, the slow rhythm grew to be too much. Aidan growled and flipped me over, placing himself firmly on top. I gasped in surprise and could only cling to him as he claimed control. The soft touch I’d felt when he connected to me increased in intensity, and it burned in my chest. Then spread.

Aidan pulled one of my legs up over his shoulder and buried his face in my hair. The faster he moved in me, the more the heat in my chest spread, over my breasts and to my hands and feet, and between my legs. After a few moments the heat turned to ice, but the sensation wasn’t uncomfortable, just intense. I gripped his backside, digging my nails into him, while my knee pushed into my shoulder. I couldn’t catch my breath enough to speak, enough to cry out. There was just him, moving so fast within me I almost couldn’t hold on, and the freezing heat that threatened to burn me up.

With a burst of energy, a cry escaped my lungs. As my world exploded Aidan thrust into me once, again. He cried out, face pulling back from my hair as he tensed.

With one last shudder, he collapsed against me.

…

I woke up in a much better mood than the previous day, if more than a little exhausted. A side effect of letting Aidan drain me more so than a sleepless night, I suspected. But I shied away from thinking about what that might mean, and I didn’t feel any different from the small bit we’d shared. After several hours of enjoying each other’s company, Aidan took me to pick up my car. He was gone again by the time I got up, but he’d kissed me before he left and whispered a quick good-bye. My happy glow didn’t even disappear when I realized I needed to go to the office to fill out a mountain of paperwork about the goblin kill. The number of forms literally doubled when you had to perform a field execution instead of a capture.

Piping-hot coffee waited in the kitchen, so I poured some into a to-go mug and headed for the office. I was still irritated Aidan hadn’t seen fit to confide in me about his heritage, but the fact he made me coffee before he left got him a lot closer to being forgiven. Another night spent together didn’t hurt his case either. And not being extinct wasn’t a crime. I cursed at myself for thinking about him more than I should, but I couldn’t help the warmth in my heart.

I walked into the precinct and the receptionist at the front desk gave me a puzzled look as I waved hello to her. She waved back tentatively. Wondering what her problem was, I made my way to my desk.

“You get laid or something?” a gruff voice said from behind me.

Feeling heat flood my cheeks, I didn’t turn around. “What the hell are you talking about, Aggie?”

“Well, that’s the only explanation I can think of for the shit-eating grin the receptionist said you were wearing today.” I could hear the smile in his voice. Nothing made Agrusa as happy as giving a fellow officer a hard time.

“Didn’t you hear? Bagged myself a goblin last night. Adds a little extra skip to a girl’s step.” Not to mention hours of amazing sex with an incubus. I sat down, keeping my back to Agrusa. My face was probably red and it would only feed his suspicion.

“Hrmph,” he said. I almost sighed in relief when I heard his footsteps retreating.

I didn’t have to wipe the giant grin off my face—Agrusa’s observation had done that for me. No wonder the uniform at the reception desk looked at me like she’d never seen me before. Grinning idiot. Might as well walk in humming. Nothing would drown my happy mood like paperwork. With that cheerful thought in mind, I grabbed a pen from my desk drawer and started a written description of the goblin incident. My notes got to the point where I entered the dwelling when the sound of stomping feet behind me pulled me from my work.

“You need something, Lieutenant?” I asked without turning around.

“My office, Mac.”

I followed him into his office, and shut the door behind me. “Working on the goblin report. Would have done it last night but you’d have had to scrub the station for weeks to get rid of the smell.”

Lieutenant Vasquez grimaced. “That’s not why I need to talk to you.” He gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. Taking the hint, I sat.

“Okay, then what is this about?” I kept my voice flat, even, and hoped he didn’t know the full extent of my side investigation. Looking into Amanda’s murder even though I wasn’t supposed to would be understood, even respected. Keeping important things like the suspect’s description and last known location to myself was impeding an investigation. At the very least he’d be able to take my badge. I’d be lucky if he didn’t push for jail time considering how much he liked me.

“Your OWEA friend, Aidan Byrne.”

“What about him?”

“There’s no one with the OWEA named Aidan Byrne.”

My mouth dropped and I leaned forward, gripping Vasquez’s desk, ready to argue with him. I took a deep breath and hoped like hell I looked pissed, not hurt.

“Furthermore,” he continued, “the OWEA has not been looking into these murders, and wasn’t even aware of a connection between our victims and any others. Were you ever able to get files from this contact?”

“No,” I said, my voice rough. And I hadn’t asked again because I’d been more distracted by him than what he was supposed to be getting me. Dammit.