Declan hooked her knees over his elbows, and forced her weight back. Tori fell back, catching her weight on her palms while he spread the lips of her p.u.s.s.y and slowly slid in, working the thick, hard length of his c.o.c.k inside her swollen, wet tissues. She watched- watched as the flared head speared her entrance, cleaving through her sheath until he was lodged in, the head of his c.o.c.k nudging against her womb. He pulled out until just the head rested inside her before he drove it back into her.

She could hear herself whimpering, panting, as she watched him slide his flesh inside her. The thick column of flesh was ruddy, gleaming with her cream, smooth and perfectly formed. He surged back inside and Tori sobbed as she watched him, her belly and womb going into spasms at the erotic sight.

Listened while he whispered about the scent her body gave off while he was inside her, and she felt the tension already coiling. He continued to whisper and croon to her as he buried himself to the hilt-the head of his p.e.n.i.s, lodged against the mouth of her womb. "I've wondered, darlin', how it would feel t'be inside of your sweet body. No fantasy comes close, you're so tight, and hot, and wet," he crooned as he trailed one hand down the back of her thigh, lifting her hips just a little more and forcing her torso further back.

She flinched when she felt his thumb probing her a.s.s.

And she flushed, remembering how f.u.c.king good it had felt when he had slid it just a little inside her earlier.

"I know you like that," he whispered. "Your heart rate just kicked up, and your scent changed even more. It keeps getting stronger the hotter you get. Like this."

And he buried his thumb inside, the lubrication that had slid from her v.a.g.i.n.a downward easing his way past the tight ring of muscle. Shocked, surprised at the abrupt second penetration, she cried out. A lightning bolt seemed to streak from her a.s.s, to her c.l.i.t, to her womb and she bore down, and came around him in the span of seconds, and then started moving and whimpering and pleading for more.

He s.h.i.+fted, pulled and they traded positions, her kneeling astride him, facing away, her a.s.s open and exposed while he set her to rocking on his c.o.c.k. He then gathered more of her cream and slid his index finger inside her a.n.u.s. She heard him curse roughly and mutter, "So f.u.c.king tight. Like silk."

But she couldn't concentrate. She rode him hard, forcing all her weight down on his c.o.c.k with all her strength, until they were f.u.c.king each other with bruising force and she gloried in it. A second climax tore through her and he grunted, sliding a second finger inside her clinging a.s.s while gripping her hip with his other hand, grinding his c.o.c.k inside her every time she slid down.

He cried out and bucked beneath her, lifting both their bodies from the cool tile floor and clenched his hand on her hip when she reached down to cup his b.a.l.l.s. Tori rolled the warm, furry sac in her hand, before trailing her fingers down and stroking the bare, sensitive patch of skin just below his b.a.l.l.s.

His hands slid up her torso, closing over her waist, holding her still, and he pushed up into her as she stroked his sac again. Tori heard him moan and felt his c.o.c.k jerk inside her, and she squeezed gently. He moved under her like lightning, s.h.i.+fting her onto her knees, him gripping her hips and pummeling into her, panting and swearing hoa.r.s.ely, the rounded head of his c.o.c.k pa.s.sing over the bed of nerves buried by the mouth of her womb.

He started to come, filling her with hot wet spurts of s.e.m.e.n, and she went into spasms around his c.o.c.k seconds later, drawing his climax out until they both thought it would kill them.

Moments later, he collapsed against her back and eased to the floor, rolling them to their sides. Declan whispered into her hair, "When you come, with me inside you, your body gives off another scent and it marks you-marks me. We belong together, Tori. And I'm keeping you."

She had every intention of keeping him as well.

He had ushered her into bed, drawing the curtains and cutting off the light that seemed unbearably harsh so close to mid morning. For a while, he would sleep next to her, he had promised. So she drifted into a sleep deeper than any she had ever known, her belly, head and heart full.

And the hunger inside was briefly sated.

She could feed off the energy from s.e.x as well.

Not for long. It wouldn't hold her the way a kill would.

Or even a good steady feeding. But it had sated the monster inside her. Declan could scent it on her skin as she slid into slumber-the scent of deep, complete satisfaction-and he could see it in the small replete smile on her lovely face.

Declan took some comfort in knowing there was yet another way to help hold the hunger at bay. Vampires were psychic creatures, and some could feed from emotion almost as if it were blood. All vamps required some blood to be at optimum and Declan was sure Tori would as well, no matter how different she was proving to be.

She was tolerating the sunlight, food, taking s.e.x without taking blood, and being sated with it.

Different than other vampires. Aye, she was different.

He had been friends with Elijah Crawford for years, and had met a number of vamps through Elijah who were just trying to live as peacefully as one who l.u.s.ted for blood could. d.a.m.nation knows he had f.u.c.ked a number of the ladies. It wasn't an easy thing to admit, but he liked lovers who were other than human. Declan liked knowing that his strength and hunger for s.e.x wouldn't hurt his partner.

And of those women, not one of them had ever been able to come without taking blood.

That was one of the things he loved about a human lover. Though he had to be a little more careful, they had simple basic hungers. s.e.x. Well, the commitment word, but a smart man knew to avoid those women unless he was serious.

Human lovers only wanted s.e.x, a night of lovemaking, some companions.h.i.+p. Another s.h.i.+fter-especially another wolf-tended to start leading him down the path of packdom. And vampires always wanted to feed.

A guy only had so much blood.

Tori still seemed a little human, though. She had been able to come without the taste of blood, had been able to shake off the bloodl.u.s.t easier than a newly turned vamp could have managed.

It wasn't a big thing, not really. h.e.l.l, Declan didn't mind spilling a little blood if the woman he was with was worth it. There was very little that could compare to a vampire lover, outside of another like himself.

And he was solitary. Few of the other wolves he knew would dare risk their leader's wrath by sharing his bed.

It had been nearly four years since he had been with another s.h.i.+fter and that had been only one night, a were from the pack in Chicago. A true were-one who couldn't fight the call of the moon.

Alana had been one of the Alpha females, in a pack where the Alpha females outnumbered the Alpha males. The pack leader was a little nervous about letting too many strong men into his pack, fearful of any challenges that might come.

He had known and trusted-to an extent-Declan for some time, and knew he wouldn't make a challenge. So Declan hadn't been the least bit concerned when Alana had leaped through his window in her silvery wolfen form, joining him in bed.

Not concerned until Alana had started whispering what an extraordinary Alpha pair they would make. It would be easy to dispatch the pack leader. Or they could find another territory.

Everybody feared an Inherent. They could rule as they chose, live as they chose, where they chose.

Declan hated pack politics.

Hated the were and s.h.i.+fters who thought they could live by their own rules, hunt whom they chose, and never pay the price. There were far too many monsters among the s.h.i.+fters, both the were and the Inherent- those born with the ability to change at will, to go months or weeks without s.h.i.+fting.

Hated the stupid, primitive rules some Alphas expected their packs to live by.

Hated how the stronger wolves had treated those weaker than themselves.

He had his reasons for not running with a pack.

Reasons he had walked away from his own.

He made a call and spoke with Cy. Requested-and after much bullying- was granted some personal time. It had taken bribing his boss with his season tickets to the last of the upcoming basketball games. March madness was very effective, when it came to getting the week he had requested.

Seeing as how the Cards were winning, Cy had just about started crying when Declan offered that bribe.

He wasn't leaving Tori, until this was good and solved.

It was far too early for Eli to be awake.

And he couldn't leave.

Not with the feral still out there. If he decided to start looking for his new offspring, Declan had to be here when the sun set.

She woke way before sunset, climbing from bed and yawning, rubbing the side of her neck, feeling smooth flesh where there had been scarred tissue only hours earlier.

"Awake already?"

She had known he was there. G.o.d, she woke smelling his flesh-that sweet male scent-and the spice of his blood that flowed beneath his smooth skin.

Slowly, she turned and met his eyes. "Looks like. I feel...good. Well, as good as you can expect for somebody who has been dead for a few days," she said, rubbing her arms.

He smiled. "You are not dead, Tori. You're just a little more than human now."

"And the man who did this?"

"He's not exactly dead either. But he's no longer human." He moved closer, grabbing a soft chenille throw from the foot of the bed and draping it over her shoulders. "A true, full vampire doesn't feel the cold of a late evening in early spring. Or the heat of a sultry night in August," he told her, using the warmth of his hands to chase the goose b.u.mps from her body. "A true vampire can't have a climax without drawing a little blood. And most, even the ones who aren't feral, don't mind some pain thrown in.

"They cannot eat food, even though the older ones can tolerate liquids. A full Master learns to tolerate bits of the evening sun, when it is at its weakest." Reaching up, he laid the pad of his thumb against her neck and said, "And a vampire's heart can only beat so many times. It takes too much energy, and would drain him, if it beat as steadily as yours."

"So if I am not a full vampire, but a little more than human, exactly what am I?" she asked, reaching up and covering his hand with hers.

"I imagine you are a bit like me," he mused. Lifting his eyes, he met hers and said, "A hybrid."

He watched as her brows lowered over her eyes, as her mouth pursed briefly before she repeated, "A hybrid.

Exactly what would make me a hybrid? And how are you a hybrid?"

"My mother was human, although she had the blood of s.h.i.+fters, both were and inherent through both sides in her blood. My father was a s.h.i.+fter born, able to control his form from the time he was thirteen. His father had been a were, and pack leader. His mother was an inherent s.h.i.+fter. After they died, my father was made pack leader, being the eldest son of the pack leader.

"He led them for many years, alone. And then he came to America on business, and met my mother. They fell in love and married within one week of meeting each other. She went to Ireland with him, was taken rather reluctantly into the pack. I was born three years later.

"We left Ireland when I was ten. Ireland was too small for the pack. It was growing-even as rare as our kind are-it was growing. And Ireland still believes in myths and magic. It was getting too challenging to remain hidden. And too many people had gone missing. Da had a few feral were in the pack and he executed them.

They had started hunting humans.

"After the execution, he felt it was wiser to move the pack. The pack was given the choice to go, or stay. The majority went with him. Wolves feel loyalty to a rather extreme degree, and even though they were reluctant, they went."

"But one of his seconds decided after we left Ireland that we should have stayed and gone back to the old ways-hunting whom we chose, trying to infect as many as we could. He kept his wishes quiet, not wanting Da to know he was trying to change the pack's mind. He gained a few followers. He talked of how Da was trying to make them human again, to weaken them. How he had taken a human woman instead of another wolf.

And he had a whelp who was just human. Neither inherent or were.

"They killed him because he wouldn't live as an animal, because he took a human as his wife, and because I wasn't a s.h.i.+fter. They thought.

"The night they killed him, he was ambushed by men he thought were loyal to him. They also killed my mother that night. Broke her neck and left her lying in bed, like she wasn't worthy of anything more.

"I was sixteen, and away from home on a camping trip with a friend. They sent only three of the younger Alphas to take care of us. I was just human, you know. No true danger-not against three fully grown weres. One went after Cy, and the other two came after me.

"Cy? Your partner, Cy? He knows?"

"Yes. The one who went after him left him for dead, thinking he had gutted him. Cy spent the entire summer in the hospital recovering." He paused, reflecting. "The were that attacked him left without ensuring Cy was dead because he heard something, felt, and smelled trouble. Most weres can't change unless it is close to the full moon. And a were never has his first change until the full moon is overhead. But the were heard something.

"He heard someone bellowing the way they do until they learn to control the pain the change can cause. It was me."

"You."

"Aye. One of the were bit me. That's how you become a were, you see. It's rare. If a thousand people were bitten, only five or ten would become were. And some don't survive the first change. The infection, or curse-whatever you want to call it-pa.s.ses from one generation to the next through the men. The women who get bitten don't get pregnant. It sterilizes them somehow. A man who has been bitten and becomes a werewolf has about a fifty- fifty chance of pa.s.sing it on to his children.

"Inherent s.h.i.+fters, like my grandmother, are even rarer.

And they are the most feared. An inherent is one of the few things an Alpha were will fear. If an inherent enters an Alpha's territory without permission, without warning, one of the first things the Alpha will try to do is kill that inherent, because if that inherent wants it, he will be pack leader. He is dominant, even among the dominant Alpha werewolves."

"Why?"

He looked down. "The inherent has so few weaknesses.

The animal is his to call, as he chooses. It costs him little energy to s.h.i.+ft-whenever-as often as he chooses. He doesn't feel the call of the moon and if an inherent chooses, he can resist the change for months on end."

"And this is important because...?"

"To resist the siren call of the moon is the ultimate power. The were struggle for control-to control their impulses as the moon draws nearer, to resist the need to hunt. The need to hunt repulses almost as much as it entices. The inherent doesn't have that battle."

"So what are you-were or inherent?"

"You've been with me on nights of the full moon before," he reminded. And so they had, a number of times, meeting to exchange information or running into each other by chance. And once on a stakeout.

"So you are inherent."

"I'm both."

"Both?"

"Aye. Ma had the blood of an inherent, and Da was a were. I feel the call of the moon, but I can answer or ignore it as I wish. I control the animal at all times. It doesn't control me."

"But you hadn't ever changed before. What happened?"

Declan smiled, rather bitterly. "I was infected. I fought back, and I was stronger than they had expected me to be. I hadn't ever been fully human, despite what we all thought.

"They weren't able to kill me. Two weres against one should have worked- except I was more powerful-a true wolf. Inherent wolves are almost always dominant to a were, and they didn't realize what they had caused.

One of them was a powerful Alpha and could change shape at will. He changed and bit me. And that is what caused me to change. There were inherent gifts inside me, but they had never been tapped. When he bit me-"

"He tapped them. He set those traits loose, and you were able to s.h.i.+ft."

"Yes. I s.h.i.+fted, and I...was able to get away," he finished after a brief pause. He wasn't ready to tell her about the other trait that many of the more powerful inherents had-the one that made all Alphas fear the inherent in their midst-the gift of fear, the ability to radiate a ferocious fear that could paralyze the mind and body.

"I found one of my father's seconds-one who was loyal- and he kept me hidden until William Murphy-the one who had betrayed my father-went to take his place as pack leader. He had the proof that he had killed my father, and he was under the impression that I had been done away with."

"Why kill you?"

"As long as I was alive William couldn't claim that he was rightful leader. Even though I had never changed, I was the son of the leader. Tradition and pack law were things the pack lived by. If a wolf wanted the old leaders.h.i.+p gone, he had to kill the leader's entire blood family, from his mate down to the grandchildren."

"Killing children, lovely," Tori whispered, grimacing.

Her skin had gone pale again, and her eyes were wide and a dark, turbulent blue-troubled. "What proof?"

"You don't really want to know, do you?"

"I think maybe I need to. I'm trying to follow this, and I know it's unpleasant, but I think I need to know."