Lucas reached behind her to cup her ass in his powerful hands, holding her in place as he tormented her, making her feel things she’d never felt with anyone, making her want things she knew were impossible. She opened her mouth to beg him to stop, or maybe to keep going forever. She didn’t know what she would have said, because at that moment, Lucas closed his teeth over her clit and bit down. She did scream then, as an orgasm stormed through her body like lightning, igniting every nerve ending, firing every muscle, and making every hair on her body stiffen as waves of ecstasy cascaded over her body until she could barely stand. Kathryn tugged on Lucas’s hair, crying out her pleasure until the orgasm stole even her breath, and all she could do was gasp his name.

Lucas gave her pussy a final stroke of his tongue, his eyes glowing gold as he looked up at her and licked his lips, visibly savoring the blood he’d drawn from her clit. He stood abruptly, his hard-muscled body sliding over hers as he pressed her against the wall of the shower. She could feel the solid length of his arousal as she lifted her arms around his neck. He gripped her thigh and wrapped her leg around his hip, lifting her higher until he could slide his cock into her eager wetness. Kathryn groaned and closed her eyes, overwhelmed with the velvet over marble sensation of his thick penis pushing into her.

“Open your eyes, Kathryn,” Lucas demanded, his voice low and rough.

Kathryn lifted passion-heavy lids and met his golden stare. He held her gaze as he began to fuck her, one hand cupped under her ass, the other pressed against the tile wall as he slid in and out with long, slow movements, letting her feel every inch of his cock as he plunged through her still trembling sheath, his pelvis grinding against her exquisitely aroused clit with every stroke. Kathryn licked her lips, sweat dripping down her face as the hot water continued to pound around them. Lucas’s gaze dropped briefly to her mouth, then flashed back to her eyes, his expression growing suddenly more intent as his movements became more urgent. His ass flexed harder beneath the leg she had wrapped around his hip, and he began to pound himself into her, shoving deeper with every stroke, his flesh slapping hers wetly.

Lucas growled, and Kathryn’s eyes widened as his fangs emerged. His gaze took on a predatory gleam, as he nipped briefly at her lips and jaw, before finally licking the skin of her neck, his tongue a cool rasp against the big vein beneath her ear. Her heart was hammering, her breath coming in short gasps, when the smooth glide of his fangs replaced his tongue. He lifted his head slightly and bit into her vein.

And then she was crying helplessly as a second orgasm claimed her body, fisting her inner muscles around his cock, turning her blood to molten lava as it rolled through her veins, carrying a pleasure that was nearly too much for her to bear all at once. Her leg spasmed around his hips, her heel digging into his muscled ass as her sex clamped tight, refusing to release him, even as some part of Kathryn was begging for it to stop. Her chest tightened with an emotion she didn’t want to acknowledge, didn’t want to feel, but it was too late. Too late.

“Too late,” she whispered, as Lucas sagged against her finally, both of them spent and trembling.

“Too late for what, a cuisle?” he whispered breathlessly.

“I don’t know,” she lied. “I don’t know what I was saying.”

Lucas reached behind him and unwrapped her leg, lowering her carefully until both of her feet hit the tiled floor.

“Shall I wash you off?”

Kathryn slapped his hands away and forced a laugh. “You’ve done quite enough washing for one night. Take care of yourself.”

“You’re no fun at all,” he muttered as he soaped and rinsed himself quickly. When he finished, he leaned in for a last soft and hungry kiss, whispering something against her ear before he pulled away and left her in the shower to finish alone. The words were Irish, so she could pretend she didn’t hear, didn’t know what they meant, but the truth was . . . She didn’t need to know the actual meaning of the words, because it was there in the way he said it, in the soft brush of his lips against her ear, the roll of the syllables off his tongue. He loved her, and it was breaking her heart.

Chapter Twenty

Lucas was just disconnecting a call with Nick when Kathryn finally emerged from the bedroom, looking all rosy and well-satisfied. He credited himself with both of those things. She’d been far from either when he’d wakened earlier this evening. He’d known she was downstairs even before he woke. The blood he’d taken from her over the past few days had sung to him of her presence, letting him feel her sadness and more.

“Feeling better?” he asked unnecessarily.

She crossed to him and cupped his cheek in one hand as she kissed him. “Thanks to you,” she murmured, then stepped back and said, “If I were you, I’d burn that awful mansion to the ground with everything inside it.”

“If it were up to me, I would. But it’s not my decision.”

Kathryn frowned. “I thought since you defeated him—”

“Killed him,” Lucas corrected.

Her lips flattened, but she nodded. “Since you killed him, that everything of his would become yours?”

“If I wanted it, yes, but I don’t. I’ll hold his people safely until a permanent lord emerges.”

“How does that work?”

Lucas lifted a corner of his mouth in a smile. “I’d tell you, Agent Hunter, but then I’d have to kill you.” He moved swiftly, snaking an arm around her waist and tugging her against him. “And I definitely don’t want to kill you, Katie mine. I have much better things to do with that luscious body of yours.”

Kathryn flushed with obvious pleasure and tried to push him away. “Keep your vampire secrets. I don’t care.”

Lucas laughed, giving her firm ass a final caress before letting her go. “We’re going back to South Dakota tonight. And I think that’s where you need to look for your brother.”

She sobered immediately, and he almost regretted reminding her. Almost. Because he knew that more than anything, her brother’s absence haunted her. If Lucas could solve that one problem for her, he’d be happy, but he’d long ago given up believing in happy endings.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “This . . .” She gestured to indicate the Twin Cities, their lights glittering just beyond the big windows. “This was a bad decision on my part. I need to go back to the beginning, to first principles. I’ll start over, reinterview everybody, check every place again. I missed something. I just have to figure out what.”

“I’ll help you,” Lucas assured her. “My people will help you . . .”

“I have to find him, Lucas. One way or the other. If I don’t . . . ” She looked away, mouth tight, fists clenched as she struggled not to shed the tears shining in her blue eyes. “I have to find him,” she whispered, almost to herself.

Lucas put his arms around her and held her gently, like a piece of crystal that would shatter if you held it too tightly. He only hoped Kathryn was tougher than that, because Kurt had searched high and low, in places Kathryn would never have ventured, and he’d found no trace. Daniel Hunter had disappeared into the wind, and Lucas was beginning to think he’d stay that way.

* * * *

The Badlands, South Dakota

Kurt quickened his pace as he neared the BenReifelVisitorCenter. He’d parked his truck in the side lot there earlier, before setting off into the backcountry. He was calling it quits earlier than usual tonight. Lucas and most of the warriors had been out of town. They’d fought and defeated Klemens in his Chicago lair last night and would be coming home later tonight. The club wasn’t open, but there’d be a party of sorts at the house, and Kurt would be there to help keep things in order. Once upon a time he’d have been right there with them in Chicago, but he was a bartender now, a business manager. He might get bored with that eventually, might miss the blood rush of a well-fought battle, but for now he was content with mashing a few vampire heads now and then.

Tonight, he wasn’t mashing anyone’s head. He was looking for Dan. Kathryn Hunter had left town, following Alex Carmichael to Minneapolis. Kurt didn’t believe Alex had anything to do with Dan’s disappearance. The older vamp just didn’t have it in him to do something like that, and why would he have to? He and Dan were business associates, friends even.

No, Kurt was convinced his friend Dan was still here someplace. He didn’t know why he believed it so strongly. It was just a feeling. Maybe it was the blood they’d shared that once out in the backcountry. It wasn’t enough for a real connection. Dan had been more curious than committed to the exchange. But some gut instinct of Kurt’s kept insisting that Dan was near, and Kurt had scoured the town looking for him without success. So, he’d returned to the Badlands, thinking maybe he’d missed something. He was a better than fair tracker and had haunted the wilds of the Badlands every night looking for Dan. Sometimes it was only an hour or two after the bar shut down for the night, other times, when the bar was closed, he’d started at sunset and searched all night.

He paused, pulling back into the shadows as a truck turned off the highway and rolled through the parking lot to the small building used as a sort of office and storage by the rangers. He watched as a familiar figure leaned over to collect a Styrofoam container from the passenger seat, then climbed out of his truck and headed inside, using a key to open the locked door.

Kurt caught the scent of cooked food, and his gaze zeroed in on the Styrofoam container. Kind of late for dinner. Plus . . . he sniffed again. Meat, grilled and going cold, but rare enough that Kurt could still smell the fresh blood. And the man carrying it was a full-fledged vegetarian. Kind of a pain in the ass about it, actually.

Thankful that his truck was out of sight in the unlit parking lot near the visitor center, Kurt gathered the shadows to himself, confident that the desert night would hide him until he wanted to be seen. Once the unexpected visitor had entered the smaller building and closed the door, Kurt glided soundlessly across the parking lot. A sliver of light flashed around the side, and he slipped down that way until he was standing right outside a tiny window. He growled his frustration. The damn window was covered in some type of heavy, black cloth, so he couldn’t see anything. He could hear the meat-toting vegetarian talking to someone, though. And he could smell that steak. Someone responded to the first man.