Everyone deserved some happiness, even if that happiness was fleeting.

Keeping her gaze on Connor, Chloe stripped off her shirt. She shed her jeans. Then she stood before him in just her bra and panties. There were no scars for him to see on her body. After his hell, the wounds to her emotions would seem like nothing.

But…

“I think you and I are more alike than you realize,” she told him. “We’re alike, but we are nothing like our fathers.” Because she had made that vow to herself. To do anything necessary in order not to wind up being as twisted as her father had been, especially in the end. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Connor’s gaze had dropped to her body. Heated. He gave a jerky nod.

“I want you.” There, she’d said it. “I don’t care who you were before. I don’t care about any scars you have. I want you.” He needed to understand that. She was the last person who’d judge him.

“You know…” His voice was more beast than man. “That I’d do anything to have you.”

No, she hadn’t known that. His words gave her the courage to continue.

“You asked if I’d had sex with Keegan.”

His hands clenched.

“The truth is…I haven’t had sex with anyone.”

His head jerked up then, and he stared at her in shock.

“I wanted to, but…at sixteen, I was attacked by a pack of werewolves. They bit me, and that’s when my change started. I could never control it. And when I was angry or…or aroused, the change would come out more. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally use my claws to rip open a lover.”

So she’d pulled away. Kept a distance between herself and the men who’d come into her life. Keegan…she’d never planned to go far with him because she hadn’t wanted to hurt him.

Guess he and I were both keeping secrets.

She wanted no secrets between her and Connor. “My silver sensitivity is back. So it’s probably just a matter of time until the rest of my…well, until everything else is back, too.” Then she’d return to the land of pain and terror. “Before that, I want to be with you. I want to know what it’s like to go wild in a man’s arms and not fear hurting him.”

Connor didn’t move. “I’m not a man, baby. You know I’m more. And I don’t want to hurt you.”

She stepped toward him. Put her hand on his chest. His skin was so warm. Almost blazing hot. And his muscles were like stone beneath her touch. “I don’t think you ever would.” Her gaze searched his. “You have your control.” She knew that.

He shook his head. “Not with you. With you, it breaks.”

She pushed up on her toes. Skimmed her lips over his throat. Felt the frantic beat of his pulse beneath her mouth. “I trust you, and I want you.” She needed this. Before midnight, before the pain that would come, Chloe had to be with him.

Just once. Shouldn’t she get one time? To want and be wanted?

You can still love and be loved.

Chloe slammed the door on that thought, hating the whisper that had just slipped through her mind.

She licked his skin, then lightly scored him with her teeth.

Connor shuddered against her. “You shouldn’t…I shouldn’t…”

Oh, they most certainly should. She kissed a sensual path down his chest. Carefully, she spent time pressing her lips to each scar, hating the pain that he’d endured. His father had been a true bastard, and she was glad the man was dead. Glad that he’d never hurt Connor or anyone else again.

His body seemed to grow even harder, even hotter as she kissed him. Her hands feathered over him. She loved touching Connor. He was so powerful.

Down, down she went.

“Chloe…”

Her knees hit the wooden floor. Her fingers didn’t even tremble when she reached for the snap of his jeans. She popped that snap and pulled down the zipper.

He grabbed her hands.

“I want this,” she said, looking up at him. “I want you.” So she didn’t have the practical experience, that wasn’t holding her back. She’d always been a fast learner. She wasn’t fighting claws and a painful change. She was riding the crest of desire she always felt when Connor was near.

“Us…what we do…it will change everything.” His words sounded like a warning, but his hold had eased on her.

She wrapped her hands around his fully erect cock. So long and strong. Wider than her wrist. “I don’t care.” Chloe put her mouth on him. Her lips slid over the head of his arousal. Her tongue feathered over him, and then she took him deeper into her mouth, fighting to gain a rhythm even as she savored the slightly salty taste of him.

Every lick of her tongue, every move of her mouth seemed to turn Chloe on more and more. She’d thought to bring him pleasure. She hadn’t realized just how wild she’d make herself. She wanted more and more and—

He lifted her up. Pretty much yanked away her bra and panties and put her on the bed. She bounced a little and heard the ragged heave of her breath.

His eyes were glittering. Connor stared at Chloe as if he could devour her right then.

Yes, please.

His hands closed over her thighs. He pulled her to the edge of the bed, opened her legs wide, and stared down at her sex. “So pretty.” His voice was a growl. A deep, sensual growl that rumbled over her. “Pink and pretty.” Then he put his mouth on her.

There was no hesitation from Connor. He licked her. Stroked her with his fingers and his mouth and he had Chloe arching off that bed.

But when she tried to pull away from him because it was too much, too intense, her whole body was quivering—he held her hips. He kept her against his mouth and—

She came. An explosion that burst through her body. Chloe started to scream his name because it was seriously that amazingly good.

Then she remembered where she was. Who could hear them. She bit her lower lip, bit it hard to hold back her cries as she rode out that powerful storm of release.

Connor rose slowly. Pushed his body up so that he was above her. “Was that the first?” Connor wanted to know.

She managed a nod.

“Good, f**king—” He broke off and his eyes fell on her mouth. “Oh, Chloe…you’re bleeding.”

She hadn’t felt the pain.

“Let me help…” Then his mouth was on hers. He kissed her so softly. So carefully then…

His fingers slid over her br**sts. Traced her ni**les. His touch had her eagerly pushing up against him. Was the desire supposed to return so fast? She’d come, but she already wanted him again. Her ni**les felt hyper-sensitive, and his every touch had her yearning to feel more…to feel him, deep inside.

He was kissing her neck now. Hot, open-mouthed kisses that seemed to send a streak of fire right to her sex. She was wet and hot for him, and she wanted Connor inside of her this time when she came.

“There’s pleasure in the bite…” Connor’s voice was such a delicious rumble. “Let me give you pleasure, Chloe.”

She wanted him to give her everything. There was no going back. Chloe knew that. A few more hours, and her life would be over. She needed every bit of pleasure now. She needed Connor—now.

So she turned her head and she offered him her throat. A sign of submission for a wolf. For a vampire? It was an invitation.

“You give yourself to me, Chloe?”

“Yes.” She wanted him in her. She wanted to give him all that she had and to take everything he had to give her. She would remember this moment—this time—with him, always. Because Chloe knew she would need something to hold tight when the nightmares came later. When all she had were nightmares.

She’d remember him.

His teeth raked over her throat. No, his fangs. And when his fangs sank into her, she braced for a quick flash of pain.

Pleasure.

She came right then. She shuddered and bucked beneath him but the pleasure wasn’t ending. There was no crest—it just kept going and going.

His c**k was at the apex of her thighs. His mouth still on her throat. His fingers slid between the folds of her sex. Connor opened her, positioned her, and he sank in deep. So deep.

She still felt no pain. With Connor, there was only pleasure.

In and out, he withdrew, then thrust. The bed rocked beneath them. Her hands grabbed frantically to his shoulders. She was maddened, driven totally wild by the pleasure.

No fear.

No pain.

Nothing but Connor and pleasure.

“You taste f**king delicious.” He licked her neck. “And you feel like heaven.” He drove into her, moving, if possible, even deeper. His thrusts became harder and rougher. She wanted to give him as much pleasure as he was giving to her. Wanted him to turn wild just like her.

Her legs wrapped around him. Chloe squeezed him deep inside. More, more.

“Everything,” Connor demanded.

She looked into his eyes. Saw them glowing both with the power of a werewolf…and a vampire. His mouth came back down, but not to her neck. His lips pressed to the curve of her shoulder. He kissed her skin, right in that spot, a spot she knew was sacred to a werewolf.

A marking spot.

She started to tense, but the pleasure lashed her again. So much pleasure that she couldn’t suck in a deep breath. She could only feel, caught up in a storm that wouldn’t end, a cl**ax that had her muscles quivering.

He’s not marking me…that’s for mates…he’s not—

“Mine,” she heard him say. And his teeth bit that sweet spot.

She ignited.

He came. She felt the hot jets of his release inside of her. And his mouth pressed a tender kiss to the spot he’d just marked. “Mine,” again, but there was such pleasure in that word.

Pleasure and possession.

***

“Sonofabitch.” Eric Pate glared at the narrow flight of stairs. He’d been intending to go up those stairs and interrogate Chloe Quick. But Connor was up there with her, and from the sound of things…the guy was doing a whole hell of a lot more than just an interrogation session.

His nostrils flared. His sense of smell was more acute than most people realized. Right then, he could smell sex. Smell blood. A terrible combination for a man like Connor.

The case had been delicate enough before. But now that Connor had screwed the pretty she-wolf, things were about to get blown to hell.

Connor wasn’t going to like what they’d have to do next. It was highly doubtful that he’d have sex with a woman one moment and then—quite literally—throw her to the wolves in the next instant.

Had Chloe been counting on that?

A deal had been offered downstairs. It was a deal that they would be taking. And Chloe…hell, she was going to be the bait in his trap.

If Connor fought him on this one, Eric might just have to toss the guy into containment until the smoke cleared. The mission was about far more than just one woman. Emotions couldn’t get involved.

Not when so many lives were on the line.

He straightened his shoulders. He might have to get clawed for this, but…Eric headed up the stairs.

Chapter Seven

He was afraid to look into Chloe’s eyes. A woman says it’s her first time and what do I do? Literally jump on her like a starving wolf.

He’d marked her. He hadn’t meant to do that. He hadn’t even meant to so much as sip her delectable blood. A vampire got too much power when he drank from a live victim. Before, he’d been desperate. If he hadn’t taken her blood at the safe house, those werewolves would have taken her away from him.

This time, though…

I took her blood because I couldn’t stop myself.

He’d seen the gleaming drop of blood on her lip. He’d licked it away and been lost. His control had shredded, and he’d held on just long enough to make certain she wanted the bite. Then…

“Chloe?” Connor rasped her name and pushed up on his arms. After everything else, he sure didn’t want to crush her with his body.

But she just sighed and held tighter to him. Already, he was growing hard for her again. He’d just pretty much gutted himself with pleasure, and now he already wanted her again?

She doesn’t realize what I’ve done.

Hell, he didn’t even know why he’d done it.

Drinking her blood…that was dangerous. Because a vampire could exert too much power over his prey. He could compel, if he wanted. He could force Chloe to do anything because he’d taken her blood. He’d tied her to him.

Any place she went now, he’d find her. He could track her, feel her.

Taking her blood had been bad enough, but…

He pressed a kiss to the mark he’d left on the curve of her shoulder. The vampire in him hadn’t been the only one to want Chloe. His werewolf side had claimed her. He’d actually marked her in the way of mates.

How screwed up was that?

She’d asked for sex and he’d gone full-on primal with her—

A knock shook the door. “Get decent,” Eric barked. “And then open this door.”

Fury streaked through him. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Eric right then. Not when he was still buried—balls deep—in Chloe. Not when he was realizing just how tangled their web was and not when—

“Thank you,” Chloe whispered. “I never knew it could be like that.”

Well, that was because it usually wasn’t. He’d had sex before, rushed sex, slow sex, rough sex…but nothing had ever been like that. With Chloe, everything had been different. Every sensation had been heightened. When the cl**ax had hit him, he’d nearly howled his pleasure.