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      “Open yourself to passion and I will show you incredible pleasure in a night that will never end. You will be mine. I will never let anyone hurt you, if you but surrender to me.”

      Vampire Lucian Marcello knows it’s his destiny to claim Mara Fuller as his own. She is a Darklighter, half-demon and half-angel, and has sworn to destroy the man who almost killed her. If she succeeds, her demon side will take over and she will turn evil. The only way to save Mara is for Lucien to mate with her and absorb her dark powers. But though tempted by a shared erotic vision, Mara is resistant to his charms. It will take all Lucien’s powers of seduction to make her surrender to his dominance and desire. For if he fails, her life will be forfeit…

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter 1

      A lick of fire caressed her bare backside, making her shiver with anticipation.

      Shadows danced around the golden flames cast by dozens of scented candles in the bedroom. On the satinwood nightstand, candlelight illuminated two champagne flutes filled with a fine French vintage. It was a scene set for a very deliberate seduction.

      Red satin sheets rustled as she shifted her weight. Her seducer skimmed his long, slender fingers down her back. Mara Fuller lay still and naked, one arm flung above her head. The posture pulled her breasts upward.

      The vampire noticed. His beautiful full mouth tipped upward.

      “So beautiful. I want to taste them,” he whispered.

      An intense gaze dark as midnight caressed her naked body, causing her flesh to tighten.

      He was powerful, with a manner accustomed to command. Like his surroundings, he embodied elegance and refinement. Black curly hair fell past his broad shoulders. His features were classic, the chin brutally masculine, contrasting to the fullness of his lips. His eyes were frosty as the snowflakes clinging to the windows.

      The strength in those elegant hands could snap necks like dry twigs, or slowly stroke between a woman’s legs, making her beg and plead.

      “Bind yourself to me, Mara. Lose your soul in mine. Lose the darkness, or forfeit your life.”

      She steeled herself against the solemn look in his mesmerizing eyes. Eyes that had the power to make her obey so that she became a mindless puppet, losing all control. Mara was a Darklighter, half-demon, half-angel. She would never call a man, or vampire, master.

      “Never,” she whispered.

      He licked her earlobe, and then fisted a hand into her hair. Tipping her head back, he ravaged her mouth. She felt a slight pinch of fang, a delicious bite of pleasure as his tongue tangled with hers. Fire danced along her nerves as she wrapped her arms around him. Her foot slid up the length of his limb, her toes caressing the dark silken hairs on his muscled calf.

      Captured in his arms, he would never release her. She was his to claim in the flesh. Her breasts flushed with arousal, their nipples begging to be touched.

      “Please,” she gasped.

      Pulling away, he looked down at her with fierce intensity. “Lucien. Say my name, Mara.”

      “Lucien, please… I want…”

      “To be free.” He slid a palm down her body, cupped her hip. “I will set you free from the demon inside you.”

      “No.” Her protest ended on a moan as his tongue flicked delicately over a cresting nipple. Pleasure spilled through her as she arched into his touch. Her fingers curled through his long, silky locks.

      She wanted his mouth on her, his body joined to hers. Yet he was lethal and could strip away her last vestige of strength: the darkness that had kept her alive since her parents’ deaths.

      Lucien pulled away and captured her gaze with his. “The darkness will kill you. The demon inside you is your death sentence. If you release it and kill the one who hurt you, you are doomed. You must mate with me or I will destroy you. Your soul will burn in eternal flames.”

      Anguish shadowed his face. The look vanished, replaced by male possessiveness.

      Reaching between her legs, he slowly stroked, culling more moisture from her aroused body. She cried out in pleasured shock.

      “We will be lovers. You cannot fight this,” he murmured.

      He loomed over her, his big body pressing her into the soft mattress. His erection nudged her slick folds. A sob escaped her lips as she fought for control, to prevent opening her thighs wide and letting him claim her in the flesh.

      “Come to me, Mara. Open yourself to passion and I will show you incredible pleasure in a night that will never end. You will be mine. Only my lips upon your skin, my body joining with yours. I will never let anyone hurt you, if you but surrender to me.”

      Mara moaned in carnal delight as his warm mouth nuzzled her long, slender neck. If she listened to his promises, Lucien would dominate and claim her in the flesh, and she would no longer be Darklighter. The demon portion of her would lie dormant, and the fire, the sweet erotic pleasure, the heat would consume her…lick her naked skin…

      Her skin.

      Her skin was on fire.

      Pain licked her naked skin with burning needles as she became conscious. Gone was the erotic vision of the sensual vampire doing carnal things to her body. His warning hovered in the air in a phantom whisper.

      Bind yourself to me, Mara. Lose your soul in mine. Lose the darkness, or forfeit your life

      No soft bed pressed against her bare rump. Instead, there was pain from the last beating. She was naked, chained to a pillar in a dank, dark basement. Mara licked dry lips. Her parched throat burned like the hot desert. The vision she’d had was her subconscious substituting hot agony with hot pleasure.

      Two days ago, she’d just driven away from campus when an elderly man with blood