She had always lived a kind of safe life, choosing her path carefully, pursuing a profession that made sense to her in terms of building a stable future for herself. On the other hand, her social life had always been a mystery, since she’d never been satisfied with the men she’d dated. And she’d known a number of good men, with strong careers, determined to get ahead, qualities she valued. Yet she’d never felt completely drawn to them, as though something was missing.

Now she flew with a vampire and felt more like herself than she ever had before. So what did that say about her, about what she needed from a man and from life? Another mystery.

He landed her near the bench he’d sat on earlier, during the photo shoot. The hallway was opposite. “So what’s in there you didn’t want me to see?”

She could feel he was getting worked up, and not just from his desire for her. His blood-madness moved at the edges of his mind once more.

She stood in front of him and put her hands on his face. “We need to get cleaned up. Lucian, look at me.”

He dragged his gaze away from the hall. “What?” He scowled, his temper suddenly short. He drew in a quick breath, flared his nostrils, and squinted.

“You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

“Yes. A little. What’s in the room, Claire?”

She slid her right hand down his arm, all the way to touch his palm. She interlaced her fingers with his, then drew him toward the bathroom. “I want you showered up. How about we do that together?”

His eyes fell to half-mast, and a soft growl formed at the back of his throat. It was something only a vampire could do—that soft growl—and she loved it.

She led him to the shower, which turned out to be a deep open space, big enough for both of them.

But right now she had something else in mind. She turned the water on for him, then gestured for him to precede her.

He never took his eyes off her as he stripped, stepped in, and started lathering. She ignored the blood that washed down the drain. He’d been dirty from battle. He’d needed a good scrubbing. “Are you joining me?”

She shook her head. “I just want to watch.” Claire had never been so hungry for a man.

When he soaped himself low so that his fist worked his thickening column up and down, she slowly opened the upper portion of her robe.

His gaze dropped to her cleavage and then to her bare breasts, held upright and pushed together by the costume. Her nipples were now like hard beads.

“Get rid of the robe.”

That was what she wanted, right now, right here, with Lucian. She wanted him telling her what to do, commanding her. She dropped the robe.

He rinsed, shut the water off, and ran a towel over his body. Drawing close, he stroked the sides of her bare, supported breasts with his palms, then licked down the deep line of her cleavage, thumbing her nipples.

You don’t know how much I wanted do this.

I had an idea.

He sucked on her breasts, hard tugs, nursing her, which caused her more agony. She surrounded his shoulders with her arms and flexed her breasts against his mouth and face. He grabbed her waist with his hands, pulling her close.

“Lucian, I swear I could come like this.”

But at that, he rose up and looked down at her, his gray eyes glinting. Something very Ancestral, and very vampire, stared back at her as his gaze bored into hers. What’s in that room, the one you wouldn’t let me see?

You sure you want to know?

You know I do.

Very well. One of Eve’s specialty tables.

His gaze narrowed. And is that what you want? She felt his desire like a strong sudden wind.

She nodded slowly, but before she could say anything more he shifted into altered flight, throwing her over his shoulder at the same time. A second later she stood in that room, now lit with a dozen fat candles. Eve had been there, knowing what Claire intended and how Lucian would respond.

And Claire loved it, all of it.

The darkness in Lucian came alive at the sight of the narrow platform draped from above with a dozen different kinds of heavy black chains, some of them infused with preternatural power. He could trap Claire here forever, if he wanted. She’d never be able to break out, and no other Ancestral would have the power to release her.

He liked the idea.

His cock grew rigid as he slid her down his body and set her on her feet.

She’d seen this room earlier and planned to bring him here. She wanted to be here.

The bed was narrow, meant only for one, and had movable parts that, being a man he understood extremely well. He could place parts of his body next to her. He could reach other parts of her easily. And she couldn’t touch him.

Chains hung from a suspended box. More chains hung from wrought-iron loops cemented into the rock wall at the head of the platform. Over the last year, he’d been suspended on similar loops and beaten until his skin hung in strips and he bled in pools around his feet. He’d almost died twice under the whip of the women who tortured him and his brothers.

Now Marius was dead and he was here with a human female, a woman he intended to use. A woman who wanted to be chained down, wanted to be under his control.

She’d already seen the raw state of his dark soul and she wanted more, so that’s exactly what he would give her.

First, however, he needed to get the costume off her. He’d hated that other men had looked at her body, especially the two worthless vampires who traded in human flesh.

He needed her cleansed of at least that.

He caught the straps at her shoulders and slowly drew them down over her arms, away from her breasts, peeling them off her hips. He knelt in front of her, and as he removed the patch covering her narrow auburn landing strip, he leaned in and placed a kiss on her cleft.

Are you ready for this, Claire, ready for me?

Yes, God yes.

He rose up and lifted her quickly in his arms. She gave a cry and he smelled her sex. He turned her in his arms so that he held her parallel to the floor, balancing her.

He leaned over her and nipped at her stomach.

Again she cried out.

He met her gaze. “I’ll give you a choice right now, Claire. You can leave this room or you can stay, but if you stay, I will bite you, repeatedly.”

The sharp scent of her aroused sex flowed over him so that he had his answer before she spoke the words within his mind. I’m staying, Lucian. I want this more than I can say.

He looked into her eyes and saw her desire. She was into this as much as he was.

“Last chance. Leave now or stay and take whatever comes at you.”

“I’m staying.” The double-chains vibrated with her desire.

He threw his head back and roared, still holding her stretched out, barely balanced on the muscles of his biceps and forearms.

He moved her toward the platform, pushing the central portion in and stretching out a leg on each side. He used manacles and chains from above and locked her ankles within, which spread her for him, providing the view he wanted of her sex, of the place where he intended to work her until she came repeatedly. The arrangement allowed her some mobility, but not a lot.

He rounded the sides of the platform then locked her wrists up in a similar way. Again he left her with a short arc of motion: She could reach for things, but she wouldn’t be able to leave the table.

As soon as he had her completely chained, he stepped away from the table. He began to feel a swell of power up through his feet, his legs, hardening his muscles and his cock, tightening his abs, his arms, his neck. Again, he roared.

Her gaze tracked him, her light-brown eyes glinting in the candlelight. She streamed an erotic scent.

But the flood of power in his veins ignited his blood-madness. He needed to feed, and he would take from her repeatedly in dozens of places.