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couldn t. He kept thinking about Alyssa. Every timeAmyrubbed against him, he imagined Alyssa rubbing
against him. Every timeAmykissed his neck, he imagined Alyssa kissing his neck. As he pulledAmycloser
and felt her softness push against him, he thought of Alyssa s voluptuous body pressed against his
hardness.
In the end, he knew he couldn t takeAmy. He wanted only one mortal woman. Alyssa. This disturbed
him. He had never had this kind of problem before. Women were attracted to him. Even without using his
powers, he never had a shortage of women willing to sleep in his bed. When he was interested. Which
wasn t often. He liked women, respected them and enjoyed their company, for a little while. But his
solitary existence was a necessary part of his job, so he had never pursued any woman seriously.
* * * * *
After her aunt left, Alyssa lay in bed, tossing and turning. She tried to sleep, but was too restless. She
called out to Jonathan, but he didn t come. Usually he slept on her bed at night, his purring lulling her to
sleep, unless he found a juicy bug or rodent to play with for a while. He must have gotten lucky tonight.
Giving up, she kicked the sheets off and got up out of bed. She stood in front of her bedroom window
and stared through the open curtains, out into the moonlit night. But she saw nothing. Instead, the image
of Christian looking up at her with hungry, glowing red eyes appeared. Fear burned in the pit of her
stomach. She thought she had it together. She thought she could deal with this. She was wrong.Way
wrong.
What had she been thinking? The guy was a vampire for crying out loud! He bit people s necks, sucked
blood from their bodies, slept in coffins! This was not just the dangerous bad boy-type that so many
women liked to get entangled with. This guy wasn t human. He wasn t even alive. Was he?
Alyssa remembered the empty, cold look in Christian s eyes earlier. She had seen that look only one
other time. She had never forgotten it. While in high school, her class had gone on a field trip to the
Phoenix Zoo. She had moved ahead and approached the black jaguar exhibit. In awe of its beauty, she
stood close to its cage. The cat turned its stare to her and a shiver of dread had run down her spine. His
eyes were dead. There was no other word for them. The jaguar s eyes told her that he would kill her and
eat her if he could. There would be no sympathy or compassion. There would just be death. Hers.
Looking into Christian s eyes had been like reliving that experience.
The memory cleared, replaced by another. Christian kneeling on the ground, bent over in pain.
Struggling with an agony she couldn t imagine. Didn t want to imagine. She remembered the way his
body had shaken with effort.
She had wanted to go to him, to touch him. To wrap her arms around his kneeling form and help him.
She didn t know how, but she had wanted to try. Wanted to make all the pain go away. So that he could
be free, free of it all.
Alyssa shook her head. Tried to clear it. What was she thinking? She didn t even know what he was
going through. Had no idea how to help him. And what if she had gone to him? What if he had looked up
into her eyes? Mesmerized her with his glowing red gaze. Then sank his teeth into her neck and sucked
every last drop of blood from her body, until she was nothing but a dried up corpse.
Alyssa shivered. She was starting to creep herself out. When had she begun thinking about dried up
corpses? She went back to bed, pulling the covers over her head like she used to do when she was a
child. Foolishly thinking that if she lay perfectly still it would keep the monsters at bay. She knew better
now.
Still, she kept the blanket over her head. She practiced using the breathing technique that had helped her
calm down so many times before. Concentrated on inhaling one, two, three, four, five and
exhaling one, two, thre what was that? Alyssa held her breath and listened. When she heard nothing,
she thought she had only imagined it. She started to relax. Then stiffened in fear as she heard it again. A
scratching noise, not loud, but definitely there.
She listened carefully. It was coming from the area by her bedroom window. What should she do? What
if it was Christian? What if he had come back to& to what? Finish her off? Tear his teeth into her neck?
Suck all the blood from her body?
Or make love to her? She got only a glimpse of what if would be like and she knew her body hungered
for more. She wanted to press her soft curves against his hard angles. Needed to feel his strong hands
exploring the contours of her body. Craved to have him inside of her, filling her in a way she knew only
he could.
Alyssa was hot, too hot. She threw the blankets off again. She couldn t take it anymore! Storming to her
bedroom window, she opened it wide. She never saw the shadow until it flew at her. It hit her squarely
on the chest and she lost her breath. Falling backwards from the impact, she felt a sharp pain as
something pricked her neck. It was too late. She should have listened. She should have stayed under the
covers like the child inside her had told her to.
Alyssa screamed. She landed on her back with a loud thud. The impact knocked the breath out of her.
Meeoow.
Her eyes shot open. She knew that meow! Her cat lay on her chest, his claws stuck into her as he held
on for dear life.
Alyssa caught her breath.
Jonathan? What were you doing outside?
At the sound of her voice, his nails retracted.
She petted him, trying to calm both of them down. Alyssa was shaking and couldn t seem to stop. When
Jonathan began to purr, she knew she could move without risking more injuries from his sharp claws. She
wrapped her arms around him and sat up. Her head swam then slowly cleared. Jonathan squirmed in her
tight hold so she released him. Settling down on her lap, he repositioned himself until he was comfortable.
She continued to pet him and talk in a soothing voice. Calming down with each passing minute, her heart
beat eventually slowed.
Now why were you outside, Jonathan? You re a full-time inside cat. You don t do outside. And I don t
remember opening my window
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