Deep Dark Secret Read Free Page A

because I didn’t allow myself to feed on people didn’t mean the urge wasn’t there. I was half-vampire, and the siren song of blood could sometimes crash into me with a demanding frenzy, like a heroin junkie aching for one more fix.
    If I didn’t get hold of myself, I was going to be in trouble. I could feel my sharp canines throbbing against my gums, begging for release, and I had no doubt my pupils were swelling to take over my brown irises.
    It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought ahead. I’d eaten before leaving the council headquarters, indulging in the small blood supply I’d insisted they keep there for me when I’d realized they expected me to feed on living donors like they did. But you wouldn’t know I’d taken proactive measures now. The din of Madison Square Garden was threatening to turn me into the monster I was capable of being.
    A shudder rippled through me as the flavor of cinnamon filled my mouth. My lupine energy awoke like a sleeping dragon and expanded outward until my whole body vibrated with the blistering heat of it. It quieted the vampire urges.
    I hadn’t realized how tense I was until my inner wolf curbed the out-of-control-vampire part of me. Usually it was the cool, collected vampire who kept my wolf on a leash, but this time my lycanthrope nature had been called out in the nick of time. And she hadn’t woken up because of me.
    She was awake because of the heady taste in my mouth telling me the wolf king was nearby.
    He might never know how close to the edge I’d been, but he’d pulled me back just in time. My heart leapt. I didn’t love Lucas the way I loved Desmond, but it didn’t mean I felt nothing for him.
    I spun on my heels, scanning the crowd for Lucas. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be difficult to spot. Tall, blond and handsome, he drew attention wherever we went. But with this many people around, he’d be playing it cool, toning down his larger-than-life aura the best he could. Being a media-shy billionaire meant he had learned how to blend, even though he was born to stand out.
    The Red Sox ball cap gave him away.
    God love my werewolf boyfriends, but the one thing they couldn’t agree on was baseball. They had the same taste in movies, music, food and obviously women, but they turned into bitter rivals when the topic of the MLB came up. Desmond was New York proud to the core and swore he bled Yankee blue. Lucas was such a big Boston fan he’d actually purchased the franchise. They could share a girlfriend, but they would come to blows over the World Series. Go figure.
    Lucas sidled up to me, and though my heels gave me a slight advantage, I still needed to look up to see his smile. Funny how his silly grin could light a spark inside me, even when I was worried I might start biting people any second. The reaction I had to Lucas was akin to ice cream melting on a piece of hot apple pie. Sticky-sweet and instantly comforting.
    He stooped and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips, placing both his big hands on the small of my back, sending a wave of warmth through my lower body. I grazed his chin with my nose, then kissed the bow in his lower lip as the last of my anxiety shivered out of me. It was no secret how ecstatic I’d been when he shaved off his beard a few months earlier. His stubbled chin was as much facial hair as I wanted to deal with when we got to smooching.
    “Hi,” he whispered, tugging at my fancy hairdo. “You’re a little dressed up for hockey.”
    I twisted my mouth into a sly smile. “Yeah, sorry. I’m meeting my billionaire boyfriend here. You’d better not let him see you flirting with me. He’s real mean.”
    “Oh yeah? Big, brawny, jealous type?” He pulled me closer. The crowd had started to thin as people moved into the arena to find their seats.
    “You know it.” I took one of his hands in mine and stepped out of his embrace. Without letting go of my grip, he spun me so his arm was looped around my shoulder and we were still