Free Dark Embrace (Principatus) by Lexxie Couper Page A

breast. Her enemy. He was her enemy. And he knew it, just as much as she did.
    Which meant only one thing.
    “Well, that looked like fun.”
    Tianya’s lilting voice tickled Inari’s ears and, mouth dry, heart hammering, she opened her eyes.
    Her sister stood beside the sofa, lips twitching. “Feel better?”
    Self-contempt flooded through her. “No.”
    Tianya cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I’ve never seen that look on your face before.”
    Inari turned her head to the side, gazing at the silent television. “What look?”
    “Contentment. Like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary. Or should that be the succubus that swallowed the, well, you know.”
    “That’s not funny, Ti,” Inari snapped. A shard of something tight and dark and foreboding stabbed into her chest. Contentment. She clenched her fists, not wanting to believe what her sister was saying. Contentment implied more than just physical pleasure. Contentment implied emotional pleasure as well. An emotional connection that propelled her physical release to a whole new level. Contentment? No. It couldn’t be true. She was Principatus. She didn’t fall for master vampires, regardless of her countless fantasies. She didn’t. He was her enemy. She didn’t need to see his fangs to know that. It ran through the blood in her veins.
    She shook her head, looking back at the ghost of her long-dead sister. “That can’t be the way, Ti. There is nothing about the master vampire that makes me feel contented. Contempt , yes. Definitely. But contentment? Not with him.”
    Sadness stole over Tianya’s beautiful face. “So what are you going to do then?”
    Ignoring the fading heat of her orgasm, the potent memory of his touch, Inari clenched her jaw. “Have a shower,” she said, her stomach knotting as her sister’s image faded to nothing. “And never sleep again.”
     
    Jacob watched as Ezryn paced the expansive floor of the master vampire’s living room, unable to miss the way his friend’s fingers opened and closed repeatedly, the way his nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed to slits. Jacob cocked an eyebrow. His master seemed a bit miffed.
    “Are you going to tell me what’s pissing you off, or do I have to glamour you into a confession?” He leant back against the bar and crossed his ankles, flicking his attention to the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Y’know, dawn is almost breaking, and it’s not healthy to go to bed with a temper. You’ll get heartburn.”
    Ezryn shot him a dark look. “I’m not in the mood, Jake.”
    Jacob laughed. “Gee? Really?” Shoving himself from the bar, he scooped up Ezryn’s glass—filled with lukewarm, early twenties O-positive—crossed the room and held it in front of his friend’s scowling face. “Here, knock this back. It’ll make you feel better. Maybe then I can get some sense out of you.”
    Ezryn glared at the glass. “I’m not thirsty.”
    Jacob laughed again. “Bullshit.”
    With a low growl that would have made any other vampire piss blood in fear, Ezryn snatched the glass from Jacob’s hand and swallowed its contents in a single mouthful.
    Jacob grinned, removing the glass from Ezryn’s hand. “Now cough it up. What’s got you so riled up you look like you’re about to hyperventilate…a neat trick for a vampire, I might add.” He turned, walked back to the bar and deposited Ezryn’s empty glass on the smooth, black marble counter. “Does this have anything to do with the female I saw you sampling back in the Pleasure Pussy? I gotta say she was pretty damn fine.” He grinned, remembering the sight of Ezryn buried face-first between the delicious little human’s thighs. If he hadn’t been distracted, he would have enjoyed watching the entire act. Maybe even asked if he could join in. “What happened to you, by the way?” he asked, refilling Ezryn’s glass from the decanter sitting on the bar. “I got nabbed by a vamp-groupie, and by the time I’d had my fill of her