Chapter One

Eden walked into Carpe Noctem wearing a short black dress and thigh high boots. The outfit, along with her long shaggy ‘scene’ haircut, made her seem nearly as young as the crowd that filled the trendy vampire themed nightclub. In truth, as an immortal, she looked younger than her actual years, appearing to be in her late twenties. Her tight, sexually provocative clothing had been chosen to aid the illusion of youth.

Trolling was tough business. Eden knew this from experience. With throngs of beautiful young things packing the clubs, finding someone to fuck could be a major undertaking if you didn’t do something to set yourself above all the other immortals. Everyone wanted to get laid and available partners could be in short supply, especially when it came to vanilla sex. Despite what her older brother Sean thought, she figured her luck would hold better in the vampire bar than the ones she usually frequented. The cheesy vampire paraphernalia, the coffins, stakes and bats couldn’t disguise the club’s sophistication or fun factor. A sea of people, mostly humans dressed as vampires and true immortal Acerbian vampires, filled the club. Proving Sean wrong when he said the “Queen of Kink” would never go to Carpe Noctem, would give her immense satisfaction.

Ignoring the snarl that begged to get out whenever she thought of her elder brother, Eden turned toward the neon lit bar. She needed a drink before she contemplated the choice of partners offered by the club’s patrons. As she elbowed herself a space at the end, her nose twitched. The scent of vanilla filled her senses, and her dragon suddenly itched to break free. Holy shit. Who the hell would walk into a social meat market smelling so innocent?

The smell came from her right. She wriggled in the tight quarters, trying to turn. Based on the sweet scent, she expected to see a woman. Instead, she found a tall man with midnight blue eyes smiling down at her.

“You just go right on trying to move,” he quipped. “I’m enjoying it tremendously.”

Eden’s eyes narrowed. Every time she moved, her body rubbed up against his. Her hip dug into his groin and she could feel a slight telltale swelling there. Despite the fact that the man smelled all girly like a sugar cookie, the bulge held promise. She sniffed again. Sweet smelling. Smiling easily. No display of arrogance. A mellow and amused expression, eyes dancing with humor. Beta. He had to be. Her dragon stretched inside her, urging her to take him.

“Oh, really?” She raised one brow and wriggled against him again. The size of the ridge against her hip increased. Oh, yeah. He just might work out after all, she thought as she realized his more than adequate proportions weren’t fully erect yet.

He nodded, his dark blue eyes gleaming as they raked over her from the top of her raven head to the tips of her designer boots. “Of course, we’d both enjoy it a lot more naked in my bed,” he told her candidly.

Eden’s pupils elongated as Blue Eyes roused her dragon. The scent of vanilla intensified.

“You don’t believe in wasting time, I see.” She turned, deliberately rubbing against him, breast to chest. In her boots, she almost matched his height.

He quirked a dark blonde brow at her. “And you do? You can’t tell me that the dragon in you isn’t clawing to get at my cock.”

Eden began to smile. He might not be a dragon, but he obviously knew them intimately. Good. One less thing she’d have to train him on. “You’re a bold young thing, aren’t you?”

He laughed. “I’m not as young as you think.” His smile revealed vampire fangs.

She pondered the fangs for a moment. People often pretended to be vampires at Carpe Noctem. He could well be one of the wannabees. After all, she’d never met a vampire who smelt of vanilla before. Usually, the real ones smelled of blood. He didn’t smell like a human either though. That vanilla scent masked his true nature and it annoyed her a little.

He shifted his hips against her and the hard ridge of his cock bumped against her belly. Her dragon poked her with its claws. Her thong grew damp as she rubbed against his erection. She finally decided he must be a real immortal, an Acerbian vampire.

“I just have a feeling I’m older than you. Indulge me,” she said. “I like being a cougar.” She reached down and boldly stroked the front of his jeans.

His engaging smile widened. “I’ll be teacher’s pet, I promise,” he joked.

Her eyes narrowed. “Not a bad game. Have you been bad today? Do you need a spanking?”

As the words fell from her lips, she could have kicked herself. Tonight was supposed to be about vanilla sex, not toys or fetishes. However, the blonde man just shrugged. “I’d rather just fuck you. All that other crap isn’t necessary for me. As you can tell, I’m pretty much good to go.”

His eyes gleamed preternaturally, answering her earlier questions about his status as an immortal. One hand cupped the side of her face, the long elegant fingers sliding into her dark hair. Angling his head toward hers, he dropped a quick kiss on her lips. An electric tingle went through Eden’s body and her dragon came rushing to the surface of her skin.

When he deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue, she sighed into his mouth. His free hand slid over her hip and curved over her taut buttock. She rubbed herself against him again as that sugar cookie scent grew stronger. Lifting her arms, she draped them over his broad shoulders, feeling the hard muscle and bone beneath his silk shirt. He sucked on her tongue and heat pooled deliciously between her thighs. Gods, he was hot!

“You know, at your ages, you should really get a room,” a snarky voice spoke behind Eden.

The blonde man lifted his head, his expression tinged with annoyance that only lasted a moment. Recognition bloomed in the midnight blue depths of his eyes and his lips twitched into a smile.

“Hey, I know you. You’re…”

“Karl with a K… that elf with the internet gossip show… yeah, yeah,” the elf said with a sarcastic laugh. “Everyone knows me, kid. Especially here.”

Eden turned and looked at the man on the bar stool behind her. He had a half empty glass of Guinness in front of him and a bowl of bat-shaped pretzels. His grey-green eyes stared at her unblinkingly from behind wire rimmed glasses. She frowned.

“You’re immortal. Why are you wearing glasses?”

Karl gave her a look that would have withered most people. “I’m told wearing glasses gives you character. Since I don’t have any character, I figured I’d manufacture some,” he drawled.

Her blonde hunk openly grinned now. Apparently, he found Karl’s snarky sarcasm amusing. “I watch your show all the time. You have plenty of character. You’re funnier than all the shows on TV.”

“Tell that to my producer. He bitches daily that he’s gonna fire me.” Karl took a sip of his ale. “I meant what I said, you know. Get a room. All this grinding and humping is for the kids who got nowhere to go. You two are obviously old enough and wealthy enough to afford the room. So go there and grind. I don’t like having to protect my drink from elbows that are in the throes of lust,” he complained.

Mr. Sugar Cookie Scent chuckled. “Sure, Karl. Nice meeting you.” He took hold of Eden’s elbow.

Karl raised one brow at them. “We haven’t been formally introduced, but I know who you are. And more importantly, I know who you are,” he said, his eyes landing on Eden with a wicked gleam.

She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up when he waved a hand at her in a shooing motion. “I’m not telling. Names or lack of them is strictly between you two grinders. Now, would you mind letting me get back to my drinking here? Fucking horny immortals,” he grumbled, turning away from them.

The blonde man pulled her away from the bar toward the exit. “Where to?” he asked as they stepped out onto the street.

A cab whooshed up to the curb beside them and she opened the door, getting in. The blonde man followed her. She gave the cabbie the name of a posh hotel on Park Avenue. As the cab took off, the blonde man smiled. “From out of town? Me too.”

Eden shrugged. “I’m here more than I anywhere else. I travel almost constantly for work so I don’t have a permanent place to live unless you count a dozen boxes of crap at my brother’s house,” she said in a dismissive tone.

“I can’t imagine not having a home. I’m from the west coast myself.”

Tall, blonde, and vanilla’s chatty behavior started to annoy her so she slid her hand up his jean clad thigh and squeezed his half hard dick. It responded instantly to her touch. She smiled at him, her curved dragon fangs showing.

He sucked in a breath, his hand coming up to cup her breast. “I gather you’re not much for chitchat,” he said, his thumb teasing her nipple through the soft material of her dress.

“Nope,” she replied. Naturally reticent, when her horny dragon raged, she was even less inclined to words. Only action of a sexual nature would calm the beast inside her. “Just looking for some vanilla sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“Well, just in case you feel the urge to shout my name later, it’s Colin,” he said and grabbed her by the back of the head.

Shock rippled through Eden as he held her firmly. He kissed her deeply, ravaging her mouth with the kind of kiss she’d expect from an Alpha, not a Beta like Colin. If his kiss hadn’t completely overwhelmed her and made thinking next to impossible, she would have wondered if she had pegged him wrong. Where his kiss had been leisurely before, now it burned hot and urgent, demanding a response from her rather than accepting what she doled out to him.

Abruptly, he let her go. Her chest heaved as she sucked in great gulps of air. Colin’s eyes glinted enigmatically at her in the dim light of the cab. “You gotta be more careful about judging a book by its cover,” he growled.

She blinked. He looked at her with a feral light in his eyes. Ho-ly shit. She’d never misjudged an Alpha before. Of course, her familiarity with vampires fell far below that of dragons and fae men. She’d always been rather skittish around vamps. All that biting and blood sucking…

Colin took her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. The midnight blue irises glowed preternaturally again, and she could feel the steely strength in his long elegant fingers. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy and all I want is to fuck your pretty pink pussy,” he whispered. “Walking into a vampire club and making snap judgments about my kind can get you drained, despite the fact that you’re a dragon.”

Her eyes widened a little. He smiled then, and the sunny, amusing persona he’d displayed at the club, the persona that had shouted Beta to her, snapped back into place. “You are going to let me fuck your pretty pink pussy, aren’t you?” he asked as his fingers turned from steel to silk, sliding warmly across her skin.

Eden nodded. Several strands of her raven hair caught in the golden stubble that covered his jaw. His vanilla, sugar cookie scent grew stronger and she realized his arousal intensified it. The more aroused he became, the stronger the scent grew. The sweet smell flooded her entire being, making her mouth water. She wondered what he tasted like…

In a split second, the dragon within her roared to life. She pushed Colin against the back of the cab’s seat and kissed him hard, her lips and tongue sucking urgently at his. The heat and depth of the kiss pushed her arousal up several notches. It had been a long time since a man had affected her so strongly, and never had one’s scent overpowered her as Colin’s did. Potent and distinctive, she would have been able to find him in a crowd of thousands at Madison Square Garden. Definitely something to remember if she ever had to hunt for him.

Colin’s hands slid up under the hem of her mini dress, his fingers digging into her ass. She rubbed herself against him and he rewarded her with another growl. Pure sex emanated from the sound, with none of the male fierceness that had colored it previously. The sound skittered along her nerve endings, reaching her inner dragon and rousing the beast’s tremendous sexual appetite.

Heat and wetness rushed to the sensitive flesh between her thighs. Colin’s nostrils flared and she knew he had caught the scent of her sex. Beneath her hand, his cock had swollen to a satisfying proportion. The long thick ridge behind the zipper of his jeans promised to fill her as no one had before. Size had never mattered to her, but then, she’d never had someone as big as Colin promised to be.

The cab screeched to a stop, the centrifugal force pushing her back against the seat and away from the press of Colin’s body. She sprawled awkwardly; her skirt hitched up so far her thong showed. The driver didn’t even bother to look in the rear view mirror at her. Colin ran his hands over his face, then opened the door and got out. He reached in, holding out a hand for her. She put hers in it and let him pull her out of the cab. Tugging her dress down, she waited as he paid the driver.

When Colin turned toward her, she saw the feverish glitter in his eyes. He apparently didn’t care that anyone who chose to look at his crotch would see the bulge of his erection. He took her arm and they walked boldly into the lobby of the expensive hotel. Exhilaration swept through Eden as they headed toward the elevator. Once in the car, she pushed the six and the car swept upward. Her dragon clawed at her insides. She was so aroused, she expected her cream to drip down her bare thighs any moment.

At her floor, they got off the elevator, and she turned down the plushly carpeted corridor, her long legs eating up the distance to her room. As she neared it, she took out her keycard. She stopped in front of 669, slipping the keycard in the slot. Colin chuckled at the room number. Moments later he closed the door, sticking the Do Not Disturb sign on it. When he turned toward her, she reached back and unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor.

Standing in front of Colin in her black silk thong and leather boots, a sense of empowerment filled her. Her fingers twitched, aching for the thick handle of her whip. Colin looked at her hand and arched one blonde brow in amusement, almost as if he could read her thoughts. He casually pulled off his jacket and tossed it on the chair, following it with his shirt.

Eden’s eyes raked over the muscles of his arms and chest. He had a fine boned aristocratic caste to his build, with pale gold skin, a shade or two lighter than her own tan. The muscles of his arms, pecs, and shoulders were sculpted and well defined, but not bulky. His rock hard abs had classic six pack ridges. A fine dust of blonde hair encircled each of his pale brown nipples… pale brown pierced nipples.

Her lips quirked in a smile. He really wasn’t what he appeared to be, she thought as he bent and removed his shoes and socks. When he straightened, she briefly eyed his long narrow feet. Elegant like his hands. Her gaze shifted to those hands. They pulled down the zipper of his jeans, pushing the denim down his muscular thighs. He kicked the jeans away and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers. She stared at him thoughtfully, deciding that he had predictable taste in underwear. He seemed like a boxers kind of guy. With a practiced flick, the garment in question hit the floor and he kicked them in the same direction as the jeans.

“Will I do?” he asked, as her eyes wandered his hard body. Dark gold hair arrowed from his navel to his groin. She saw that he kept himself well trimmed and thought that it extended to his balls too. Even from a distance, they seemed smooth. He had a larger cock than the bulge in his jeans had given away, she noted, taking in his girth and length. Her mouth watered at the thought of licking him.

“I believe you will.” Desire turned her voice husky and unconsciously, her fingers reached down to her panty line to stroke over her clan mark. The dragon inside her began to pace. Touching the swirling lines of the clan mark that covered the soft skin inside her hip bone made her even hornier.

“Your clan mark?” he asked quietly, watching her stroke it.

She nodded and he walked toward her, reaching out to brush one long finger over the mark. Her inner dragon preened at his touch. She knew the mark just looked like a tribal dragon tattoo to the uninitiated. However, Colin seemed to know about clan marks and how they reacted to touch.

“You’re a black dragon. I’m not sure I recognize the clan though,” he murmured, circling her and looking up and down her body.

“It doesn’t matter. All you really want is to fuck my pretty pink pussy, right?” she reminded him with a lift of her brows.

Colin smiled angelically. “For now, yes, although, you have yet to show it to me…”

As his voice trailed away, Eden bent over and unzipped her boots. She could feel Colin’s eyes on her breasts as if he touched her. The weight of his gaze made her rush and she kicked the expensive designer footwear off, something she never did. She lifted her head, her eyes holding his as she shimmied out of the black silk thong.

Inside her, the dragon roared, knowing that the tension they shared would soon be released. Eden walked over to the bed and ripped the covers back. Lying on the sheets, she spread her legs so that Colin could see the pussy he’d promised to fuck. She didn’t need a mirror to know that her flesh glistened wetly in the low light. She could feel her swollen, sensitive lips throbbing. She stroked her hand over the clan mark and her nipples tightened painfully.

If you want it, come and get it, bite boy. Standing there staring at it, doesn’t do either of us any good.

Colin’s eyes jerked to hers and for a split second she had the weird sense that he had heard her thoughts, something that sent fear arcing through her. But then he flashed a seductive smile that widened as he started toward her. In a flood of lust that drowned her momentary fear, she gazed mesmerized at the thick erection that bobbed with each of his steps.

“It really is very pink and very pretty,” he said softly, his tone filled with satisfaction.

When he reached the side of the bed, his long fingers trailed over her knee and up the inside of her thigh. Her heart thundered in her chest and her dragon’s harsh breathing sent a trail of smoke from her nostrils.

Colin leaned over her, his hands denting the mattress on either side of her hips as he sat on the edge of the bed. “How much foreplay do you want, baby? Because as far as I’m concerned, what happened in the cab was all I need.”

Eden licked her lips, watching as Colin’s eyes darkened even more. “I don’t need any more teasing. Just fuck me hard and fast before I explode from looking at you.”

She didn’t know what to expect, but what happened next still surprised her. With an economy of movement that made it all seem like a single smooth move, Colin reached out, flipped her onto her belly, pulled her hips back against his and thrust the entire length of his cock into her throbbing wetness. She let out a startled half yelp, half moan. He filled her so tightly it bordered on pain. Taking someone as big as him without any warning had driven every ounce of air from her lungs.

Colin’s fingers roughly pinched and twisted her hard nipples. Pleasure ripped through her in a great wave. She had no idea how he knew what she liked. He certainly didn’t look like a rough sex sorta guy. He looked cultured and refined, the elegant and arrogant sort who liked to order women to service him.

He jerked her up off her hands, his chest cradling and supporting her torso. His hips stilled as his hands swept over her body, finding all the places she most liked to be touched. When she moaned uncontrollably, he licked her neck and she shivered. The most incredible sensations buffeted her body when his tongue stroked over her skin. She almost asked him to bite her, but he bent her over again. Her palms hit the mattress as his hips slammed into her ass. He pulled back and thrust into her forcefully.

Eden’s pussy stretched to accommodate him while clinging to his thickness. He fucked her harder than she’d ever been fucked before. The head of his cock battered her G spot with every thrust. Shivers of pleasure racked her body. Her orgasm crested and she cried out, tossing her head.

Colin chuckled but his tempo didn’t lessen. He gave her exactly what she’d asked for. She shuddered and gasped for air, her heart racing thunderously. Unbelievably, as one long finger flicked over her clit, she found herself coming again.

She knew he could feel her spasms, feel her pussy clamping down on his thick cock. His strokes became shorter. The slap of his hips against her ass grew more frantic. His teeth nipped the back of her neck as his hands tightened on her thighs.

“Oh, baby. Come for me one more time. You can do it,” he growled.

His tongue licked at her neck in time to the glide of his fingers against her clit. His cock filled her so full he could barely press inside her despite the fact that she was wetter than she had ever been. His thumb stroked over her mark and inside her, the dragon roared as heat flooded her veins. Her pussy clutched his cock as her whole body vibrated in a third orgasm.

With a muffled cry, Colin came. His cock jerked inside her and she could feel the gush of hot seed that filled her. Shaking uncontrollably, her arms gave out and her face landed on the sheet, her ass still the air as Colin’s cock throbbed inside her, spurts of cum still erupting from him. Finally, he pulled out of her. She moaned at the feel of his flesh separating from hers, leaving her sensitive, open and exposed.

Colin flopped onto his back beside her and her knees gave out, her lower body sprawling bonelessly on the bed. They looked at each other, both of them gasping for air. Then Colin reached out and brushed a lock of hair off her face.

“I’ll give you fifteen minutes to recover. Then I’m pounding that pretty pink pussy again after I lick it into submission.”

Eden’s eyes popped open in astonishment. She didn’t know what astonished her more, the fact that he would be ready again so soon or the way he took control. His lips curved in a grin.

“I don’t think you’ll need any of the toys I’m sure you have here. We’ll just fuck. I’m good at it and I like to do it for hours.” His midnight blue eyes twinkled at her. “Unless you’re sending me away now that you’ve come.”

Although he hadn’t framed his words as a question, she shook her head anyway. “I don’t think I can send you away. At least, not until I’m worn out and can’t walk,” she replied, her own smile growing as approval flashed across his face.

“Good.” He leaned over and kissed her hard. “Time for tongues and fingers to discover cocks and pussies.”

He grabbed her hand and placed it on his half hard cock, still wet with her juice and his seed. She stroked him, wondering why she’d never been into biters before. Unbidden, her mind went back the phone call that had sent her storming into Carpe Noctem looking to get laid. An outcast to her family, she rarely went home, rarely participated in family events. Even so, she loved her siblings. When one of them had accused her of being the Queen of Kink, an unfeeling bitch of a slut who lived to get off, it stung. Those words from someone she had looked up to her entire life, struck deeply into emotions she struggled daily to control. To survive the pain, she’d retreated into the cold bitch persona she’d been accused of.

Now, that same self preservation kept the lid on her emotions, when she looked at Colin. The core of her wanted to know him, but the icy bitch who’d taken control of her during that painful phone call refused to let go. The bitch coolly surveyed Colin, wondering why she hadn’t hit on vampires before. She snarkily thought that if she had known biters were this good, she would have been picking them up regularly from Carpe Noctem. And that same cold bitch decided that she had more one item she could add to her sexual buffet menu now that she knew about vampires’ stamina.

Inside her, behind the icy bitch, the real Eden gazed at Colin’s beautiful face and wished her life was different.