Tempted by Midnight 12.5 Read online

  ignored

  the

  pointed

  complaint, even if it had merit. “I see

  you didn’t eat anything either.”

  “What do you care?” she tossed

  back, her fine auburn brows pinched

  together.

  “I care, Melena. For now, you’re

  under my watch. It’s my responsibility to

  ensure that you’re comfortable and

  healthy. That you’re fed and clothed.”

  He gestured toward the boutique box on

  the bed. “I arranged for some things to

  be sent here for you from one of the

  local shops.”

  She cast a sidelong glance toward

  his gift, then back toward the bathroom

  where her ruined skirt and blouse lay in

  rags on the tile floor. Warily, she drifted

  over to the bed and lifted the lid off the

  box. She glanced inside, then one by

  one, pulled out the skirt and pants, then

  the blouse and sweater he selected for

  her.

  “I didn’t know what you’d prefer,”

  he murmured.

  She lifted the charcoal gray, fine-

  gauge sweater first, then the pair of

  black slacks. The understated classics of

  the collection, which didn’t surprise

  him. She glanced at the two pairs of

  shoes he’d purchased as well, taking out

  the elegant Italian flats. “These are all in

  my sizes. Perfectly in my sizes.” She

  slanted him a guarded look. “I wouldn’t

  think you’d paid attention long enough to

  notice.”

  “I

  noticed.”

  Lazaro

  slowly

  approached her near the bed. “I should

  be focused on a thousand other things

  right now. Instead, here I am. Noticing

  everything about you, Melena.”

  If she had flinched at all when he

  came to stand beside her, Lazaro would

  have somehow found the strength of will

  to leave her in peace.

  If she had resisted even a little

  when he lifted her chin on his fingertips

  and drew her gaze up to his—if she had

  looked into his transformed Breed eyes

  with anything close to fear or uncertainty

  —he would have forced himself to let go

  of her and refrain from ever touching her

  again.

  But Melena did none of those

  things.

  And when he slowly lowered his

  mouth to hers, this time, not even he or

  his iron will could pretend the desire

  that arced between them was anything

  either of them would be able to deny.

  He kissed her, hard and hungry.

  Any illusions he might have had for

  taking things slowly with her, or giving

  her a chance to get away before he

  pounced, were all but obliterated once

  their lips and tongues had come together.

  A fresh surge of molten need

  scorched through his veins, and all at

  once it didn’t matter to him that getting

  involved with Melena Walsh was the

  last thing he needed to be doing.

  He wanted her.

  She wanted him—he knew that

  even in the cave.

  And the fact was, he’d already let

  himself get involved, whether or not they

  allowed this undeniable, if untimely,

  desire for each other to flare any further

  out of control.

  Melena awakened a need in him

  that he hadn’t felt in a long time. A new

  kind of need, something white-hot and

  irresistible. She had done in less than a

  day what no other woman before her had

  managed to do in two decades.

  She made him feel alive again.

  Lazaro growled and took her mouth

  in a deeper kiss. She moaned, reaching

  up to burrow her fingers into the short

  hair at his nape. Her soft curves felt like

  heaven against him, even through the

  barrier of their clothing. Her mouth

  tasted warm and sweet. Her body arched

  into his, pliant, consenting.

  Welcoming.

  Hot with need.

  He smoothed his hand down her

  throat, breaking their kiss as his thumb

  grazed over the Breedmate mark nestled

  in the hollow between her collarbones.

  He lifted his head to look at it—to

  remind himself of what she was and why

  he could not allow himself anything

  more than this desire they shared.

  “I should ask you if there is

  someone else,” he uttered thickly. He

  dragged his smoldering gaze back up to

  hers. “I should ask, but right now I don’t

  think I’ll give a damn if you say there

  is.”

  “No.” She gave a faint shake of her

  head, her breast rising and falling with

  each rapid pant of her breath. “There’s

  no one. Not for more than a year. And

  even then, I never wanted anyone like

  this...”

  He registered that sweet confession

  with a growl that vibrated deep in his

  chest.

  He kissed her again, gathering her

  face in his hands while his mouth moved

  intensely, hungrily, over hers. Being Gen

  One, his appetites were stronger than

  most. With Melena all but undressed and

  willing in his arms, those appetites were

  on the verge of owning him. It was only

  the dim knowledge of her lingering

  injuries that kept him in check.

  And she wasn’t helping in that

  regard.

  Meeting each thrust of his tongue,

  parting her lips to take him deeper, she

  stoked his arousal even further. Her

  body pressed against his, heat igniting

  everywhere they touched. He couldn’t

  resist the loosened opening of her robe.

  His hand slipped inside to feel the

  softness of her skin. Her pulse banged

  against his fingertips, strong and certain.

  Erotic and primal.

  Melena groaned in pleasure. Her

  voice rasped sensually against his

  mouth. “I like the way you kiss me,

  Lazaro. I like the way you touch me.”

  Holy hell. Her words made fire

  erupt in his already molten blood.

  With fangs filling his mouth and his

  cock gone hard as granite behind the

  zipper of his pants, Lazaro moved his

  hand to cup the buoyant underside of her

  breast. A hot, pent-up sigh gusted out of

  her as he caressed her bare skin beneath

  the slackened robe. Her nipple was

  pebbled and erect, a temptation he

  lightly tweaked, then rolled between his

  fingers. Melena’s grasp at the back of

  his neck tightened, her fingers curling

  into his hair as a moan leaked through

  her parted lips.

  Every taut fiber of his being ached

  with the need to put his mouth on her

  silken skin, to feel all of her. Taste all of

  her.

  His hands obeyed that need,

  reaching up to gently ease the
robe off

  Melena’s shoulders. It slipped down her

  arms, baring her to the waist. She was so

  lovely. Porcelain skin dusted with a

  smattering of sweet, peachy freckles and

  lush, feminine curves that begged to be

  savored.

  The purple contusions and mending

  cuts on her torso and abdomen drew his

  eye just as intensely. Rage for whoever

  did it swirled through him like a fierce

  tempest. When he thought of how close

  she’d come to being lost in the explosion

  along with everyone else, that rage

  turned murderous and black.

  But tenderly, he let his fingers light

  on a couple of her worst bruises. She

  flinched a little and some of his fury

  snarled out of him. “It hurts?”

  “Only a bit.” When he drew his

  hand away, she caught it, placed his

  palm atop her bare breast. “I don’t want

  you to stop touching me.”

  His cock jerked in response, more

  than eager for him to oblige her. He

  filled his hand with her breast, then took

  her mouth in another deep kiss.

  But feeling her, kissing her, only

  made him ache to explore some more.

  His entire Gen One being throbbed

  with the need to claim, to possess.

  He drew the robe off her

  completely. Let it fall in a pool at her

  feet. For one indulgent moment, he

  soaked in the sight of her through his

  amber-drenched, fevered eyes.

  Then he lifted her off her feet and

  spread her out beneath him on his bed.

  CHAPTER 7

  Melena sank down onto the soft

  mattress and watched, wide-eyed and

  trembling, as Lazaro prowled up the

  length of her naked body.

  It wasn’t fear that gripped her.

  Nothing even close to fear.

  Her every nerve ending had come

  alive—gone dizzyingly electric—under

  his careful, caressing touch and the

  sensual promise of his lips and tongue as

  he’d tenderly explored her skin.

  Now, lying exposed to him

  completely on the bed while he

  remained

  clothed,

  she

  wasn’t

  uncomfortable in the least. And whether

  that made her a wanton harlot or a daring

  fool, she didn’t know. Nor did she care

  in that moment.

  She wasn’t nervous or uncertain

  about anything she was doing with this

  man.

  She wanted more.

  He sent the boutique box to the

  floor with a sweep of his strong arm,

  making more room for them. She

  jumped,

  breath

  catching

  at

  the

  animalistic power that poured off Lazaro

  in palpable waves. She’d never felt so

  much energy and heat focused on her.

  In

  her

  handful

  of

  failed

  relationships, no other man—Breed or

  human—had stirred her passion so

  easily,

  so

  masterfully. Difficult to

  please, more than one lover had called

  her. And they’d been right. None of them

  had taken her breath away. None of them

  had been able to hold her interest, in or

  out of bed, for more than a few months.

  Then again, they weren’t Lazaro

  Archer.

  She’d never been in the presence of

  a Gen One male with carnal hunger in

  his eyes.

  And Lazaro’s hunger was intense.

  His eyes were twin coals, locked

  on her as he positioned himself above

  her, braced on his strong fists on either

  side of her head. His fangs gleamed

  razor-sharp,

  enormous

  and

  fully

  extended.

  And while his dermaglyphs were

  obscured by his black shirt and combat

  pants, she knew they had to be vivid

  with deep colors—not unlike the

  pulsating, blood-red aura that radiated

  from him as his consuming gaze drank in

  her nakedness from forehead to ankle.

  He spread her legs with his thigh,

  nudging her open to him. As he covered

  her, the rigid length of his arousal

  ground against her hip. Her pulse sped

  up, tripping as he gave her a meaningful

  thrust of his pelvis, those smoldering

  amber irises burning her up.

  He took her mouth in a slow but

  demanding kiss. He took her lip between

  his teeth, sucked her tongue deep into his

  mouth. Kissed her until she was panting

  and writhing beneath him, grasping at

  him with needy hands. “Now, I’m going

  to taste you, Melena,” he murmured

  against her slack mouth. “Every last

  creamy, delectable inch of you.”

  And then, heaven help her, he

  proceeded to do just that.

  He started with a maddening sweep

  of his tongue just below her ear. She

  shivered, even though her blood was on

  fire for the heat of his lips and the gentle,

  but unmistakable, rasp of his fangs as he

  dragged his mouth down to the curve

  where her neck and shoulder met. He

  suckled and nipped, working his way to

  her breasts. Kneading them in strong

  hands, tonguing the tight buds at their

  peaks, he didn’t move on until she was

  moaning with pleasure and aching for

  more.

  Her back arched into him as he

  began a slow and steady exploration of

  her rib cage and abdomen. He took care

  around

  her

  bruises,

  astonishing

  tenderness from a Breed male who had

  lived ten lifetimes and counting, whose

  own otherworldly body was virtually

  indestructible. Yet he navigated her

  minor wounds as though he were

  handling glass.

  That moved her deeply, even more

  than his passion had overwhelmed her.

  Melena reached down, cradling his

  dark head in her hands while his kiss

  traveled lower.

  Across her stomach, onto each hip

  bone, over the quivering tops of her

  thighs. She trembled as his mouth blazed

  a slow path down the entire length of her

  right leg and ankle, then returned up her

  left calf, to her knee and the tingling

  flesh of her inner thigh.

  If he wanted to make her wet and

  vibrating with the need to have him

  inside her, Lazaro could have stopped

  right after their lips had met for the first

  time here in his bedroom.

  But it was patently clear from the

  wicked look he shot up the length of her

  nude body that he was only getting

  started.

  His head lowered between her

  spread legs. When the heat of his breath

  rushed out against her sex, she

  shuddered. When his lip
s touched down

  and his hot, silky tongue cleaved into her

  slit, she let out a strangled cry.

  Fingers gripping the coverlet on

  each side of her, she held on for dear

  life as Lazaro licked and kissed and

  fucked her senseless with his ruthlessly

  skilled mouth.

  She came in mere moments,

  pleasure shooting through her in wave

  after glorious wave. She didn’t know if

  she sighed or screamed or both. She only

  knew that while her body was still

  floating in a million tiny shards of bliss,

  Lazaro started climbing back up to her

  on the bed.

  He stroked her face, watching her

  —smirking in obvious satisfaction, for

  God’s sake.

  Then his grin was gone as quickly

  as it had arrived, and he covered her

  mouth with his, kissing her hard and

  deep and wild.

  He drew back on a curse, his breath

  sawing in and out of his lungs. He

  stripped off his clothing and boots in

  mere seconds. Then he pivoted back to

  her, gloriously naked. He found his

  place between her thighs again and held

  himself there, unmoving, watching her.

  Considering her in some way.

  His big body threw off waves of

  heat and power. The glyphs that traced

  his bulky shoulders and muscular arms

  continued onto the contours of his chest

  and rippled abdomen. They pulsed

  vividly on his skin, alive and flooded

  with color.

  Those Gen One skin markings

  trekked farther south as well. The thick,

  long shaft of his cock was circled with

  glyphs, their hues flushing even deeper

  as Melena admired him with unabashed

  approval.

  God,

  he

  was

  immense.

  Magnificently so.

  And sexy as hell.

  She rose up to touch his face,

  cupping his stern jaw in her palm when a

  scowl thundered across his expression.

  “It’s been a while for me too,” he said,

  then gave a small shake of his head. “I’m

  not sure I can be as gentle as I’d like for

  you. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

  Melena saw the torment in his aura,

  even if his body was being driven by a

  stronger need now. He didn’t want to let

  her in, but he couldn’t shut her out either.

  He cared, even though he wanted to

  deny it.

  She thought back to what he said to

  her in the cave. That just because he’d

  helped her stay alive, didn’t mean she

  was safe with him.

  Melena had never felt more

  protected or secure with anyone in her

  life.

  And she’d never known anything so

  raw and consuming—so impossible to