Dark Dreams: HarperImpulse Paranormal Romance. Dawn Treadway
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She heard a thump and then another, which must have been his boots hitting the floor, because the next thing she knew he was stretching his expansive chest and long legs, clad in faded jeans and an old black t-shirt, out next to her. He leaned on one elbow, his long, shiny black and dark-brown hair falling and folding on to the bed.
Damn, he was something to see; she almost forgot about the pain. Then it shot back at her and he put one of his hands flat on her stomach, as if to comfort her. Even with the pain, she noticed his heavily muscled bicep shift when he moved.
She couldn’t help but read him; she was freaked, badly injured and in a strange place. She wanted to trust him, but the darkness in him she felt earlier was prevalent, like a pervasive hum, an unholy deadly enigma. Right alongside the darkness was his concern. She decided he was most likely her best bet right now. She certainly wasn’t going to try to run off and get taken by more of those things, even if she were capable of that kind of movement.
“Where am I?” she managed to croak out. He put one finger on her lips to quiet her.
“Be still, Jade. As I told you before, you are safe with me.” The matter-of-fact manner in which he said it, the gentle way in which he was now touching her after the rough manner of their initial meeting, it felt almost surreal how soothing it was. She reached up to take his hand. It was warm and she gripped it with both of hers. She looked toward his beautiful face. His bright gold eyes were looking into hers and they didn’t look cocky or sarcastic. For the moment, he seemed to be actively trying to calm her. She would even say he looked kind.
“I know you’re in pain. I can make the pain and the wounds go away, but you will have to trust me.”
“Honestly, that worries me, but I really want the pain to stop.” She gave him a half-hearted attempt at a smile, trying in vain not to cry. “Okay, what can you do?”
“Just close your eyes, Jade. You’re safe with me.”
“I heard you the first time, but, before I trust you, which I can’t promise I’ll be able to do, how about you tell me your name. Your full name.” Her voice was hoarse, but she was trying her hardest not to sound defenseless.
He gave her a smirk of sorts and chuckled softly. “Very well. My name is Nias Hu’dor.”
“Okay, Nias Hu’dor, I’m going to do my best to close my eyes and trust you here. I suppose if you are going to kill me I’m kind of screwed anyway,” she rasped. He smiled kindly at her attempt at humor, and it made her feel calm enough to lean back on to the pillows behind her and tighten her grip on his hand as the pain continued to sear her flesh. “Although trusting you for more than your warmth and monster-killing rescue seems a very risky prospect.” She closed her eyes.
Next thing she knew she felt his fingers take hold of her tank top and the sensation was followed by the sound of ripping material.
Jades eyes flew back open. Her tank lay on either side of her body exposing her cut flesh and barely covered breasts. Nias was astride her and was moving the inner crook of his elbow toward his mouth, where he licked and then calmly used his teeth to rip a hole in his own lower arm. His teeth sank in and tore at the soft flesh, causing his blood to begin a dense, steady drip. She started to panic and tried to sit up; Nias gave a searing glare as he looked straight into her eyes and pressed her back down. Moving his bleeding arm over her, the blood bubbled out and flowed on to her chest and belly. Again she squirmed and he held her in place. Using the hand that wasn’t bleeding to hold her by the collarbone, he began to cover her wounds with the warm red fluid. She struggled violently beneath him, frightened at this display, but couldn’t escape; it was as though his grasp were made of solid metal.
“Jade, look at me,” and she did, but it had to have been with fear in her eyes. “I will not hurt you, I promise. Trust me, you are safe now.”
He continued to repeat that mantra of safety as he threw her tank to the floor and unbuttoned her jeans. He began smearing the thick drops down her chest, smoothing them out over her cuts with his palm.
He started at the base of her neck, his flat hand and fingers swerving down her body. Then went back up to her bra, which had been cut slightly, his hand wandered inside and he let his fingers linger by her taut nipple longer than necessary. He grazed the hardened bud slightly as his fingers flowed so tantalizingly off of her breast, and continued down her body. His eyes connected with hers and she gave him no sign she wanted him to stop.
Her whole body convulsed and caused a wet heat between her legs. He stuck four sticky fingers below the top of her open jeans, barely sweeping them over the top of her tight curls to make sure the sliced skin was covered to its end. Again she shuddered involuntarily, and gave a tiny sigh of acquiescence. He finished by squishing more blood from his vein to the long gash on her arm and firmly sliding his hand down and off of her wrist.
She couldn’t help it as his touch sent a tremor through her and she began shaking. She was completely aroused, covered in this man’s blood; he had his hand practically at her throat and she wanted more. More of all of him, cocky bastard that he was. He had taken her full circle, from being attacked and nearly killed to a state of euphoria. And now she was face to face with a man, a seriously erotic one, who looked even better than the ones she loved to dream up and thought were perfection, and she looked like she’d just been murdered. It was a lot to take in all in the same day, much less in an hour.
“Thank you?” She asked it as a question in a breathy voice. Her wounds did feel better and she glanced down, seeing some of them miraculously starting to close. She had definitely lost control of herself and the situation.
“You’re welcome,” he said looking dreamily and directly into her eyes.
“Criminy, that was the sexiest ‘you’re welcome’ I’ve ever heard.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. His voice was soft and deep. But the tone … the tone managed to stroke her entire body all over again. The electricity was palpable between them.
Then she thought back to his previous behavior; what an arrogant ass he’d been and how she had detested him. She thought about getting up and walking out, since she wasn’t having the sharp pain anymore. But her body seriously objected; it had gone to the dark side and it was staying.
She drank him in; this was much closer than she had been to him before. He had a chiseled strong, square jaw and full, kissable lips, but they were completely outdone by the intensity of his exotic golden eyes. She took in the entire length of him again; he had an energy emanating from his body and demanding attention. He somehow managed to be sleek, long, intensely muscular and amazingly masculine all at the same time; like a panther, a big sexy cat, staring with his intense yellowish gaze.
“Are you warm enough?” he inquired in a deep, sexy drawl; he had a hint of an accent she hadn’t noticed before. She couldn’t place it, but the sound of it slithered out, wrapped around her, and slowly whispered “sex”.
Her mind betrayed her next as she thought about her books and her dreams. What usually happens at this point? Should I begin running my fingers through his hair, do I stroke him? Should I … and then he leaned in and kissed her.
His hand was back to her belly, and he turned in and lightly brushed his lips against hers. She had wanted this so badly in her dreams and now she felt horribly nervous. With all of her wishing and dreaming and hoping, and even with the aroused state she was in, the fact that she had no practical experience at being intimate, and barely any at kissing, was all she could think of right then, and her body tensed. She began to tremble and wonder what came next, as the fear, excitement, anxiousness, and desire all came to her at once.
Nias could not believe how out of control this human girl was making him. He hadn’t had any intention of getting twisted up in bed with her. He had only gone after her to correct his mistake; he should have never let her go. But when he found her being dragged across the floor, her body torn open by that lowlife Shaitan, he felt a protective surge come over him. The need to safeguard someone had never before made him feel so hostile.
He had to pull her close. Seeing that she had put up such a