Free Born in Chains (Men in Chains) by Caris Roane

wanted.” The moment he stepped in her direction, she turned and moved swiftly into the hall, then into the bathroom.

 
    CHAPTER 4
     
    Half an hour later Adrien’s temper had eased a little as he flew Lily slowly in the direction of the Paris club called La Nuit, or The Night. He was still angry that he’d been forced to use his captor for his blood-and-sex needs, and even more so because she was human. But the chains had made the whole aftermath worse because he’d felt her humiliation, which then triggered a sense of guilt about the whole damn thing.
    As for La Nuit, the club had a bad reputation.
    Hundreds of vampires around the world owned profitable businesses, open at night to serve the clubbing clientele and to give those vampires disposed to either having fun at a night scene, or tasting humans, the opportunity to do so.
    Paris had a few clubs, running the gamut from chic to seedy. And there was at least one sex club he and his brothers had raided, freeing a number of human slaves each time.
    A variety of enthrallment skills kept the vampire clubs below the radar. Adrien often marveled that more incidences of vampire world exposure didn’t occur given how much interaction there actually was between the species.
    Adrien had never cared much for the human-oriented clubs, since he preferred his kind, but there were many vampires who’d acquired a taste for human blood and sought it regularly.
    And he had to admit that after Lily’s blood, he understood why. He still didn’t get it totally, though. He’d tasted humans before, once as an experiment but more often than not when he was stuck out in the world, policing some extremist group, and couldn’t get back to his kind for days on end. So yeah, he’d tasted human blood, but between his prejudice against the greedy human race and the usually weak nature of the blood, he’d never once been tempted to go back.
    Now all he could think about was sinking his fangs into Lily’s neck again, or into other more exotic regions, and taking her once more. Desire rippled through him, but he clamped it down. The damn chains would expose him if he kept it up.
    He’d been furious with Lily after the blooding, but only because the whole experience had left him craving more.
    And the bonding chains weren’t helping, because each hour he stayed bound to her, he grew more sensitive to what she was feeling at any given moment. Sure, she felt a mountain of rage against the vampire world, but laced through her fury ran ribbons of pure desire, something that happened just about every time she looked at him.
    He wasn’t exactly surprised. He knew what he looked like and he pumped iron to keep himself fit, so he understood her interest in the same way that her toned body, narrow waist, and full breasts kept his cock in a state of inappropriate movement.
    As he flew her slowly in the direction of La Nuit, therefore, he focused on what he might find at the club. He packed a Glock beneath his leather coat, along with a couple of fighting chains and a dagger. He was sufficiently armed, but his greater concern was for Lily, keeping her alive if things went south, remaining free enough to move given the short functioning length of the blood-chains.
    He set up a disguising cloak as he dropped to earth in a darkened side street and set Lily to walking as soon as he touched down. He said in a low voice, “Movement helps give the impression we’ve been here as the disguise dissipates.”
    “I figured.”
    Well, she didn’t lack for intelligence. He’d give her that.
    “You feel queasy or anything?” he asked, because he didn’t sense anything from her.
    “My head hurts a little, but otherwise I’m fine.”
    “Good. And remember, if this gets ugly—”
    “I’ve got it, Adrien. I’m to find a place to hide, preferably beneath a table or something. But do you really think we’ll face fanatics at this place?”
    The club he took Lily to catered to the darker elements of the