Blood Shadows extract – taken from
Chapter One
…
He appeared from behind her.
His movements were swift and accurate: snatching the gun from her hand,
in the same instant he forced her face-first up against the wall, her earpiece
hitting the ground.
She caught her breath, pressed her palms and knee to the wall in
preparation to push back but his hard body was already against hers, his power
reminding her that the strength she had in spirit was absolutely no match for
the supposedly three hundred-year-old six-foot vampire who had her pinned to
the wall as easily as he would a sheet of paper. And as she felt the tip of her
own gun press below her ribs, she knew all four shots of the potent sedative,
too powerful for the human body, would end it all for her.
Just like that.
But instead of firing, his soft lips brushed her ear, the arrogant
upward curl of those enticing bow lips as clear in her mind as if he were
facing her. He tutted playfully, his low rasp raking beneath her skin. ‘A
little girl doing a man’s job – bound to end in tears.’
Caitlin clenched her fists. Brovin and Morgan had to be less than a
minute away. She had to stall him. Her instinct was to try to reach back and
catch his wrist. All she needed was her fingers on his pulse point and she’d
finally know those dark recesses that no expert could reach – information she
so desperately needed. But she knew she wouldn’t have enough time to wait for
that painfully slow vampire heartbeat, even if she was in a position to get to
him. There was only one way she was going to get the time with him that she
wanted and needed.
‘Kane Malloy, I’m detaining you under section 3.4 of the Vampire
Disciplinary Clause…’
He laughed, deep, guttural, terse. ‘You’re
detaining me?’
‘On twenty-one alleged accounts of crimes against members of the third
species including your own, thirty-two against humans…’
‘Delusional as well as reckless. Are you
seriously the best they’ve got?’
‘It’s
over, Kane.’
‘You breathe too fast to be convincing,’ he goaded.
‘You don’t breathe enough to judge me.’
He exhaled curtly. Panic jolted through her as he deftly unclasped the
belt threaded through her jeans. To her disgust, for the first time on any tracking
operation, she froze.
Kill her? Yes, of course the thought had crossed her mind. No matter how
unbelievable or surreal it seemed, she had known it was a possibility. But
rape? With her colleagues closing in there was no way even Kane would have the
arrogance to attempt it in the minutes, maybe even seconds he had left.
But this was Kane. And if he wanted to leave a message for the VCU, a
dead and violated tracker would ring loud and clear.
The fact she'd even got this close would be insult too much for his ego.
She snapped back a breath as he yanked her belt through the loops. And
as his heel cracked the buckle, destroying the only way the VCU could locate
her, she knew it was about to get worse.
Her phone followed next, removed from her
back pocket by his stealthy fingers.
‘You’re lucky you serve a purpose,’ he
said, combing her hair back over her shoulder.
Her heart pounded painfully. ‘What’s that
supposed to mean?’
‘You’re the one who’s obsessed with me –
what do you think?’
As he traced the back of his cool fingers
tenderly down her exposed neck, a caress more sensual than she would have
thought possible for someone with such renowned brutality, Caitlin held her
breath. She was stunned by her own involuntary arousal, suppressing it with
every iota of conviction she had.
‘I think you’d better walk away,’ she said,
battling to get her focus back on the job. ‘Or give yourself up.’
‘Not going to happen, Caitlin.’ Pressing
the tranquiliser gun tighter into her side, Kane made her wince, his reputation
restored. ‘Question is, are you going to walk out of here co-operatively or am
I going to have to carry you?’
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Blood Shadows
by Lindsay J. Pryor
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