Page 22 of Midnight Kiss
To pin her down and ravage her neck with sweet, hot kisses, to bite and feed on her even as I filled her and brought her to the edge of pleasure again and again.
I shifted on the rooftop, irritated at my own lack of control.
I had spent the last week watching her, hoping that she would take the book out of her home at least once. I could steal it then and be gone. But she left it in the apartment, and until I had figured out where the ward had been placed, I couldn’t enter it.
My options were to wait for her to bring it out or to approach her again and convince her to let me see it. But being close to her made me weak. Weaker than I had ever been before, and in our world, weakness was unacceptable.
The soft click of heels on the rooftop behind me was preceded only by the strong scent of another vampire.
I didn’t bother turning toward her.
Cassia sat down beside me, pressing her thigh to mine, and cooling the heat that had flooded my veins at the thought of being near Emily.
I pressed a hand to her shoulder and shifted Cassia away from my side. “Ooh, have we fallen that far?” Cassia asked. “That you can’t even stand to be in close proximity to me?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I just came to see how you were doing,” Cassia said. “We haven’t seen you around headquarters, Alex. You’ve been awfully busy.”
“I’m on a mission. Leave.”
“On a mission to stare at an apartment building?”
I kept my gaze on the window. Emily had fallen asleep. She had left her window open a crack, and the breeze drifted in, toying with her curtains. Unsafe. But that was why I was here—to ensure that no vampires encroached on her space.
No, you’re here for the book.
“The coven is growing anxious, Alex,” Cassia said. “There are rumors floating around that you can’t complete your mission. There’s talk of replacing you. The longer you spend out here …”
“And you’re telling me this, why?”
“Because I care for you, of course. I want you to succeed.”
“Cassia,” I said, “you and I both know that I wasn’t turned yesterday. Do not toy with me.”
“I do love it when you come over all aggressive.” She bit her bottom lip then sent me an air kiss.
“I don’t need a reminder from you or anyone else about the importance of my task. Leave.”
But Cassia remained on the rooftop, staring at the side of my face. She gave a soft, musical laugh before turning her gaze back to the building opposite. “Is there a particular reason you haven’t broken into that apartment yet to retrieve the book?”
Asking how Cassia knew the details of the mission was pointless. She had an uncanny knack for manipulating people and drawing information from them.
“I haven’t seen it yet,” I lied, ensuring my mind shield was in place, just in case she tried to pluck the truth from my brain.
“You haven’t,” Cassia said, and the answer wasn’t full of mocking. She sounded as if she was considering it. “Do you think it’s in there? With the little girl.”
“She’s not a girl,” I said. “She’s a woman.”
“She’s how old, Alexander? Twenty-seven?”
“What does it matter? It’s the book I’m concerned with.”
Cassia rose from the rooftop. “Oh, I hope so. The alternative would mean getting sanctioned by the coven. If you were, oh, let’s say holding back because you had an infatuation with a human. That might raise some eyebrows.”
“Leave.”
“I was just on my way out,” Cassia said. “Really, Alexander, must you be so forceful? Enjoy staring at her. She’ll be dead before the week is out.”