Beyond the Darkness. Alexandra Ivy

when he’d awakened to discover her snuggled in his arms…

      Dio, it had almost made this whole kidnapping thing worthwhile.

      Almost.

      “None that involve B and E,” he admitted.

      Her gaze narrowed. “B and E implies entering. We want to exit.”

      He folded his arms over his chest. “What about you?”

      “Me?”

      “You obviously know Caine…” His jaw tightened as a flare of savage possession speared through him. “Intimately. You better than anyone should be familiar with the weaknesses in his security.”

      “I know nothing about Caine.” Her lips curled in a sneer, but Salvatore didn’t miss the bitterness that edged her voice. “He’s done nothing but lie to me since I was a baby.”

      He was petty enough to be pleased at the thought of poisoning any relationship between Harley and the damnable cur, but within that perfectly logical reaction was an unexpected stab of regret. The woman was clearly distressed by the realization that her life had been a lie.

      Risking life and limb, Salvatore grasped her hand, half-expecting to be tossed across the cell. She stiffened, but she surprisingly didn’t go homicidal on him. A step in the right direction, he told himself, savoring the feel of her warm skin that eased the sense of weakness that plagued him.

      Cristo, he needed to mate her.

      The sooner the better.

      “He told you that I murdered your sisters?” he asked.

      “And that I was next on your list to die.” Her expression assured him that she was grimly clinging to her suspicion he intended to harm her. “He swore he was the only one who could protect me.”

      “A clever means to keep you in his power.”

      “Bastard.”

      “Did he ever reveal why he was so anxious to keep you so close?”

      “He’s been using my blood in his experiments to change curs into full Weres.”

      Salvatore shook his head in disgust. The conceited fool. The Weres’ power was a mystical force, not a scientific one. A clever man might be capable of making small alterations, as he had done, but what made purebloods immortal was pure magic.

      “He can’t seriously believe in such nonsense?”

      “Oh, he believes.” Her fingers unconsciously tightened around his. “Allegedly some ancient werewolf came to him and revealed a vision that his blood would run pure.”

      “Ancient werewolf?” Salvatore frowned. A Were had given Caine the crackpot vision? It made no sense. “Are you certain?”

      “That’s what he said.”

      “Blood runs pure. What the hell does that mean?”

      “Hey, it was his vision, not mine.”

      Salvatore muttered a curse. He felt like he was trying to put together a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

      He hated puzzles.

      “Did he ever say how he managed to get his hands on you?”

      “No.” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I suppose if you’re telling the truth, and I’m not entirely on board with that theory, then he must have stolen my sisters and I from your nursery.”

      “It was humans that broke into the nursery.”

      “Caine could have hired them.” She shrugged. “He’s never been anxious to put his own neck on the line. Not if he can convince some other schmuck to do the dirty work.”

      “It’s possible.”

      “You don’t sound very convinced.”

      Because he wasn’t.

      “There’s something I’m missing,” he muttered, his gaze lowering to her slender fingers clasped in his hand. Absently he brushed his thumb over her knuckles, relishing her silken skin.

      He’d give his favorite Porsche to discover if she was so soft and smooth all over.

      Easily picking up the heat stirring in the air, Harley yanked her hand free and glared at him with an impatience that didn’t entirely mask her flare of awareness.

      “Yeah, you’re missing a way out of here. Can you please concentrate?”

      “Are you always so bossy?”

      “Do you expect me to kneel and kiss your feet?”

      He chuckled softly, stepping close enough to wrap his arms around her waist and brush his lips lightly over her mouth.

      “You’re welcome to kneel, but I have something better for you to kiss.”

      “Stop that,” she muttered, shivering as his lips skated over her jaw and down the curve of her neck. Her fingers grabbed the lapels of his jacket. “Dammit, Salvatore, we’re being watched.”

      Lifting his head, Salvatore glanced toward the tiny hole drilled above the door. He sent out a flare of power, smiling as he heard the small pop, and a whiff of smoke floated through the air.

      “Not anymore.” Mission accomplished, he returned his attention to more important matters. Nibbling the tender skin at the base of her throat, he shuddered at the need that blazed through him. “That scent is driving me mad.”

      “Would you…” Whatever she had to say was forgotten as Salvatore bit the tender spot where her neck and shoulder met, allowing his fangs to grow long enough so she could feel his mark. She shuddered, her vanilla scent flooding the room. “God.”

      “You even taste good,” Salvatore muttered.

      Her fingers clutched his jacket, and her head tilted back to allow him full access to her satin skin. Salvatore didn’t hesitate.

      He hadn’t become king by being slow to grasp opportunity.

      Tightening his grip until she was pressed against his thickening arousal, Salvatore nuzzled a path down the line of sports bra, slowing his pace as he reached the soft swell of her breasts.

      “What did you do to the camera?” she husked, as if attempting to devise some means of distracting him.

      Good luck with that.

      It wasn’t that he lied when he said he could multitask. The responsibilities that lay heavy on his shoulders meant he could never put aside his duties. Not even when he was enjoying a bit of extracurricular activity.

      In this moment, however, the world and his duties could go to hell in a handbasket.

      No doubt because this wasn’t extracurricular.

      This was the main event.

      The life-altering woman he hadn’t even known was waiting out there for him.

      “I can disrupt small electrical devises,” he said, his lips moving over her silken skin.

      “Great.” Her tone was disgruntled, but her fingers had moved to shove into his hair, her heart thumping so loudly he could have heard it even without his inhuman abilities. “You can zap a toaster, but you can’t get us out of this cell. A fat lot of help you are.”

      He chuckled, his fingers skimming up her back. “I have other skills.”

      “Unless it’s picking a lock, I don’t want to know about them.”

      “Yes, you do.”

      She made an explosive sound of pleasure as he licked the tip of her nipple through the stretchy material.

      “Dammit, Caine’s going to come down here as soon as he realizes the camera isn’t working.”

      “Good.”