STEP (The Senses) Read Free

Too close. Not now! Her grip tightened on the cold hard handle of the knife. She closed her eyes and raised her arm. Go for the jugular, he’d said.
    Ben grabbed her wrist and chuckled. “I don’t think so.” He twisted her arm until the knife clattered to the floor.
    “Let her go , Neanderthal,” Chocolate Eyes said, gun pointed at them.
    Ben raised his brows and gave a half grin as if he enjoyed every second of this. And he did. He was sick inside that massive bullhead of his. He obeyed no one except Anton. He’d rape, kill, torture, anything Anton asked of him, and he’d enjoy doing it.
    Ben turned her around so her back was up against his chest, placed his gun to her temple and cocked it.
    “You won’t kill her,” Chocolate Eyes said. “Her husband will have your balls in a vise if you do. So I’d advise letting her go before I kill her myself. No sweat off my back.” Chocolate Eyes readjusted his aim and pointed at her head. “I live. She dies.”
    Oh God.
     
    ****
     
    “Just one taste, my sweetness. That is all I ask. A drop to ease my suffering.”
    Delara rolled her eyes , laughing. “Your self-control is that of an ant at a picnic. One taste and you’ll be back for more, and I’ll become a dried-up piece of beef jerky.” One taste and she’d be breaking a law of her kind—thou shall not willingly allow a vamp to drink thy blood. Vice versa was a bigger no-no. Balen knew that firsthand. Actually, sleeping with the enemy was no better, Delara thought.
    “Mmmm, I like beef jerky,” Liam said as he slid hi s hand down her inner thigh and back up again. “And I like you.”
    He liked that she was a Senses and against the rules. Blood—her nickname for Liam— might be on a sort of truce with the Senses, but he was a vamp and could never be trusted.
    “A lot,” he continued, while his fingers trailed to the V he just minutes ago had sunk into with mad furious passion. Shit, she needed to get up and out before he coerced her into staying another five hours in bed. “Stay the night,” he said, lowering his lips to her neck, his velvet tongue sweeping across her heated skin.
    So not happening. Staying the night spelled , in big bold letters, Relationship. She caught his hand in a vise-like grip. “Can’t. Have CWOs to hunt. Short-staffed tonight and it’ll be noticed if I don’t report in.” The Center World Others were being pests lately, and the newspapers were filled with missing persons and gravesites robbed of bodies . . . go figure.
    “To Waleron?” He raised his thin dark brows as he leaned over and met her eyes. And what magnetic eyes—brilliant charcoal gray that curved downwards in the outer corners, like a sad puppy dog in a window. Deceptive, she thought. And irresistible when accompanied with the smooth delectable skin of his face. “Manipulator of the century,” Liam drawled.
    Maybe Waleron was, but coming from a vamp’s mouth it pissed her off. “God , Blood, way to ruin good sex.” She threw back the sheet and coldness sank into her bones. “And turn up the heat next time I come over.”
    He grabbed her hand before she could vault out of bed. Strength impeded her from going anywhere, a benefit of the vamps. Rough handling she was accustomed to, but it didn’t mean she took to it well. “Hands off, Blood.”
    The corner of his lips curved upwards, and the flash of battle flared in his eyes. Crap, he was itching for a fight, and she didn’t have time for his bull. “He has you wrapped around his little finger. A whisper of a word from him and you come running. I beg you to come to me more often, and you fluff me off like a pesky fly.”
    “He’s our Taldeburu, Blood. Don’t put pressure on what ’s between us. Sex. No strings. That’s all I will ever give. You knew this in the beginning.”
    “But I didn’t know how much I’d like you,” he said, and with a sharp tug pulled her beneath him and trapped her with his arms on either side of her head, his