Free A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series) by Sharon Hannaford Page A

waist, and captured his lips with hers, groaning into his mouth. 
    The sensation as he thrust inside her was indescribable.  He knew the hoarse shout was his, though it barely sounded human.  She was hot, slick and welcoming, and she threw her head back in silent ecstasy as the exquisite pleasure rode them both. 
     
    It was hours…days…eons…later that sanity finally prevailed.  Heads together, panted breaths mingled, forming little puffs of steam in the cooling night air.  Reality came into focus.  Somehow he'd managed to get them to a small, unlit alcove at a fire exit.  Her back and shoulders were probably scraped raw by the rough bricks.  The swelling on her face was subsiding already, though her lips were puffy from their desperate kissing.  He gently set her back on her feet and stepped back to refasten his trousers and belt.  Then he silently shrugged out of his duster and pulled it around her shoulders.  There wasn't much left of her clothing.  His men would know what had gone on in the alleyway, but they didn’t need to see the evidence for themselves. 
    "You okay?" he asked, needing to swallow to make his voice work properly.
    "I think so," she replied, more whisper than statement.  She enfolded herself in the jacket, suddenly shivering.  "What happened?"
    "Alexander has a car waiting for us," he said.  "Let’s get out of here.  We can talk in the car."  He pulled her with him out of the alcove.  She stooped to collect Nex, as he'd known she would, as they walked through the ash once again.  She stopped in the middle of the area strewn with ash.
    "That was me?" she asked, sliding the toe of one boot through the mess.  He nodded and put an arm around her to pull her away from the scene.  She resisted slightly, turning with a frown to study the remains, but didn't stop walking.  "Sorry," she muttered.  "I don't think I meant to kill him.  I remember trying to keep him alive." 
    A snort of amused surprise escaped him as they exited the alley to find Alexander's Ferrari purring on the curb, the man himself leaning against the door with an amused grin on his face.  There weren't many people on the planet with the nerve to actually tease him, but Alexander was one of his oldest friends, and it had been decades since he'd been able to tease Julius about sexual escapades.  He would take full advantage now.
    "Later," he growled warningly to his second in command.
    "Whaaat?" Alexander asked, with overdone innocence.  Then he chuckled and pulled away from the car.  "Look after my baby," he said with a gentle tap to the car's roof.  "We'll take Hellcat's back to the estate.  Kyle is giving the girls a ride home."  Then with a teasing bow of his head to Gabi, he sauntered off in the direction of the club.  Two dark forms peeled away from the shadows on either side of the alley and swiftly followed him. 
    As Julius held the door to allow Gabi to fold herself into the Ferrari's passenger seat, he finally allowed himself the wash of relief he hadn't had time to experience when he first rushed into the alley.  It wasn't him.  The Vampire he'd been expecting.  He'd been absolutely convinced he'd find Caspian in that alley, with some kind of supernatural hold over Gabi.  The thought had terrified him almost more than the thought of her in Dantè's clutches.  But with that came the knowledge that a rogue Vampire had arrived in the City despite his extra precautions.  Things were getting more complicated by the day.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 5
     
    Gabi's head felt like the inside of a tumble dryer.  A bizarre mix of emotions all tumbling together, fighting for dominance.  Satiation, elation and exhaustion countered by an adrenalin-inspired high and confusion.  Her body was sore; in some places painfully sore, in others pleasurably sore.  She let her head fall back onto the headrest and closed her eyes, frowning as she tried to put the pieces of the last half