Forbidden Craving. Gena Showalter

never seen skin more fair or luminous. Not even on a vampire. Like the very moon he’d spied shining in the heavens, she was soft, dazzling and ethereal.

      Moon. Yes. That’s what she was.

      His hands itched to reach out, to caress her, to linger and savor, to learn her, to anchor her against him, ensuring she wouldn’t disappear when the sun rose, as unattainable as a dream.

      His moonbeam was his wildest dream made flesh.

      She was tall, her slenderness making her appear almost fragile. Definitely vulnerable. And yet, she also had delicious curves. Her breasts were more than a handful, and her hips flared. Her legs...oh, those legs. Deliciously lithe, leading straight to the new center of his world.

      Possessive hunger consumed him. Already his blood boiled with a seemingly unquenchable fire, his skin tightening over muscle and bone.

      Never again would he be able to enjoy another woman.

      Enjoy? he thought and nearly laughed. Had he ever truly enjoyed a woman until now?

      In seconds, the little moonbeam had become essential to his well-being. But for the first time in his existence—and that’s what he’d been doing until just this moment, existing without really living—he suspected a woman would reject him.

      This one had disobeyed him, run from him and now pointed a weapon in his direction. She radiated an icy veneer his warrior instincts longed to melt.

      A moan of pleasure sounded a few feet away. He didn’t have to look to know a female had just offered herself to a warrior, and that warrior had eagerly accepted.

      “Sheathe the beast.” There were too many unknowns around them. Dropping their guard—or their pants—would be foolish. “Gather the unmated females.” He spoke in his native tongue, never taking his gaze from the object of his fascination. “Only those who wish to accompany us.”

      His moonbeam would have to be convinced.

      She retreated a step. When she realized what she’d done, she stilled. She straightened her shoulders and raised the blade higher.

      My woman has courage. I couldn’t be more proud of her.

      His shoulders straightened.

      “Why are you here?” she demanded. “What do you want with us?”

      Her pink-as-roses lips moved sensuously, entrancing him.

      Going to taste those lips every day for the rest of my life...

      “Hello, handsome.” An unfamiliar female voice sounded beside him.

      He tore his gaze from the moonbeam at last—surely one of the most difficult things he’d ever done—and glanced down. Three females now surrounded him, purring as they caressed him and rubbed against him.

      “Only the unmated ones?” Broderick asked, his eyes closing in surrender as a pretty brunette licked his collarbone. “You’re sure? This one really wants to come with us.”

      “Only the unmated ones,” he confirmed. He’d never—wittingly—taken a married woman from another man, and he wouldn’t start now.

      If the little moonbeam is mated?

      He stiffened. She’s mine! Only mine!

      Needing no other encouragement, his men leaped into action, beckoning unmated females to wait outside the tent. Broderick had to pull the trio off Valerian. They protested, only to glom on to the other warrior.

      Smiles abounded from his army and the chosen alike.

      Mated females cried in distress before attempting to shove their way out of the tent.

      One of the human males decided to object. He pointed a small, black handheld device in Valerian’s direction. A gun, he thought the weapon was called.

      Before a shot could be fired, Dorian sneaked up behind him. A sword hilt slammed into his temple, and he collapsed.

      Excellent. Valerian returned his attention to the moonbeam. She remained in place. Slowly he approached her, her dark eyes widening.

      The closer he got, the more her delectable fragrance drew him like an invisible chain. Except...

      One of his warriors reached her first, his strong arms wrapping around her from behind. Shivawn disarmed her and swooped her up into his embrace. She screamed and kicked, fighting like an enraged vampire out for blood.

      A feral growl rose in Valerian’s throat, and he bit back a wave of fury. Fury over his woman’s torment; fury over his intense surge of possessiveness. Mine! She belongs to me! He’d never experienced a moment’s jealousy in his life, and yet the sight of another man holding his little moonbeam pushed him into madness.

      “Mine,” he barked. Even though he wanted to rip the warrior’s arms away from her, he remained still. “She’s mine.”

      Shivawn paused, the beads in his hair clanging together. The moonbeam continued to fight, pounding her fists into his face, making him grimace and bleed.

      “She isn’t willing to go with you,” Valerian said, doing his best to remain calm. She only wants my touch.

      Frowning, Shivawn released her to clasp another woman against him. A dark-haired beauty who also looked less than pleased by the happenings around her.

      Hmm. Very odd. Another unhappy one. What was wrong with these surface females?

      His moonbeam quieted and stilled at last.

      “Do you know who I am?” Valerian asked, using her language, his tone gentle. Recognize me. He sheathed his sword.

      “What do you want with us?” she demanded a second time, ignoring his question.

      “I want nothing to do with the others,” he replied honestly. “My soldiers have issued invitations to the single females to come and live with us. Invitations that are being accepted, as you can see.”

      She gaped at him. “Only because you’ve somehow drugged them.”

      “The only thing we’ve done...is breathe.”

      “And what do you mean, live with you?” she continued. “Live with you where?”

      “Under the sea.”

      “The sea,” she echoed. She licked her bottom lip, the sight of her tongue nearly unmanning him. “You’re lying.”

      “I will never lie to you.”

      Now confusion knitted her brows. “You sound so sure, so determined.”

      “I am.”

      “You don’t even know me, and I certainly don’t want to know you. After I pick you out of a police lineup, I hope to never see you again.”

      She had no desire to accompany him. The realization dumbfounded him.

      My mate would rather live her life without me.

      No. No! His sudden appearance had shocked her. She just needed time. With him. With his pheromone.

      Time she would one day thank him for giving her.

      “You’re not going to like what happens next,” Valerian told her. “I apologize for that.” He gently lifted her in his arms. The side of her body pressed against his chest, and everywhere their skin touched, he burned.

      Unable to resist, he burrowed his nose in the hollow of her neck, breathing in her delectable fragrance while relishing the softness of her pale skin.

      “Are you sniffing me?” she demanded.

      “Yes. Would you like to sniff me in turn?”

      “No!”

      His shoulders slumped with disappointment.

      “If you don’t put me down,” she