Page 50 of Trapped for Her Blood
Adjusting my clothing as best I can, I run my hand over my hair and use the handkerchief to ensure I have no more blood on my face. Fully prepared, I enter the passageway.
Nothing is more important than learning all I can about this place. Only armed with that knowledge will I be able to adequately protect her.
Concentrating, I search for voices and heartbeats, forcing myself to ignore the ones I can still hear back in the cave. Ember and the bear are swimming. Talking to each other casually, intimately. Sharing details of their lives. I should stop listening. I have heard enough to know he won’t harm her.
Jealousy nearly makes me turn back to rejoin them, but I am better than that. I am not a beast like the bear, or a monster like the others held captive here.
Moving quickly and silently toward the first signs of life, I slow when I near a grouping of vampires. Three voices, two male, one female, are chatting around the next bend. I hold back, remain hidden and listen, hoping to learn about the individuals in the conversation, so I may develop a strategy to best extract from them the information I need.
I smile. The female is Gracen, the vampire to whom I spoke before I fed. Pleased at this discovery, I continue forward slowly, even as the conversation pauses. Perhaps she has more useful information to share.
I’m grabbed from behind.
A sharp object presses against my back—aligned with my heart—an object that could well be a wooden stake, threatening my imminent death.
If I die, who will protect her?
“Eavesdropping, professor,” Gracen says. “That’s rude.”
I spin, quickly pinning her against the wall, focusing on the arm holding the weapon. The object is in fact a harmless piece of rebar. Sharpened to a point, the metal spear could easily drive straight through my heart, but it is not wooden. Not lethal.
I’m shocked she was able to sneak up on me. After so many years with an office job, clearly my reflexes are rusty.
Releasing her, I back away. There is no point in denying that I was listening to her conversation. She sensed me first.
“Please accept my apology for intruding upon your conversation in a clandestine manner. I was hoping to find you.”
A lusty smile paints her face and she presses forward her ample breasts. “Feeling a bit randy after the feeding, are we?” She licks her lips. “I’ve fucked twice since we fed, but could go again, especially with a looker like you.” Reaching forward, she grabs the lapels of my jacket and moves closer. “Want to go right here? Or find somewhere more private?”
I resist the urge to push her away. “You are a very attractive female,” I say, because it is a matter of fact. “But the reason I sought you out was not sexual gratification”
She pouts. “How about a little—gratification—anyway?” Reaching between my legs, she strokes upward, and finds my hardness strapped down against my pelvis.
Her eyes open wide as she fondles me, and I suck in a ragged breath lacking the control to fully disguise my body’s reaction.
Ember woke the monster inside me. I shift away quickly, getting my hard rod away from her hand.
“Tied down?” She raises her eyebrows as she steps toward me, exaggerating her hips’ motions. “Very kinky.” She winks. “Whatever you’re in to, I’m game.”
She wouldn’t be if she knew…
Keeping my facial expressions under control, I smooth the lapels she crushed in her hands. “I do not mean you any insult, Gracen, but I am seeking information, not fornication.”
“Who’s a poet and doesn’t know it?” She grins.
“Pardon me?”
“Never mind.” Laughing, she nods. “And never mind about the…fornication.” She folds her arms over her chest. “I admire a man who’s faithful to her mate. Where is she by the way?”
“She is safe where she is currently located.”
Gracen shrugs. “Hate to tell you, but nowhere down here is safe.”
Fear tightens my chest, but I brush it aside for the moment. “As I have explained, I am seeking information.”
“Okay,professor.” Smirking, she shakes her head. “What is it you want to know?”
“Is there a place where we can converse without being overheard?” I glance around the corner to see if the vampires she was talking to are still there. They are not.
