Hunger Aroused Read Online Free Page A

Nothing.”
    The rims of her eyes were red, water-filled. If a single tear managed to track down her face, despite his many years of killing, the centuries of hearing fledglings beg for their new lives, Corin knew without a doubt he would be done for. Something about this woman, about her innocence and sensuality, called to him. Made him remember that long before he was an executioner, he was a man.
    He edged closer to the bed, wary of this pull she had on him but unable to keep his distance any longer. “During the height of passion, it would have been easy to bite you. An out-of-control lust you might have ignored.”
    She choked out a dry laugh. “I haven’t had sex in over a year. What you just did…that’s the first time in a long time someone’s hand other than my own touched me like that.”
    His heart picked up speed, his mind supplying him with the image of him entwined with this woman in countless sexual positions. He didn’t want to go there, but damn, now that he had…
    â€œYou said physiology,” she continued. “What did that mean? Why did I feel that way before and close to normal now?”
    Gods, where to begin? If she spoke the truth, and he had a strong suspicion she did, nothing about any of this made any sort of sense. There was an order to turning a vampire, and she was defying all of it.
    â€œYou know of vampires?” he asked finally.
    â€œVampires? You mean…like garlic-hating, cross-avoiding, destroyed-by-sunlight vampires?”
    â€œTruth.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “Vampires, as in Bram Stoker and the like.”
    â€œAre you trying to tell me,” her eyes narrowed, “that someone bit me and I’m becoming a vampire?”
    â€œIn a manner of speaking, yes.”
    â€œI see.”
    Corin could almost hear the wheels of her mind spinning. Definitely anticipated the way her body tensed. In her position, he expected nothing less. When she vaulted from the bed, he was already two steps ahead of her.
    The first thing he realized as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her against his body was how incredibly soft she was. The second thing, as pain exploded against his side, was how determined she was to get away.
    Jasmine threw her elbow against him, again and again, ramming into him with the strength of a Mack truck. “Fucking lunatic!” she screamed.
    More pain centered in his shin, where she used the heel of a bare foot to deliver a bruising kick. Ignoring the throbbing, he maneuvered around her and made her turn, putting her chest against his. Feisty little thing. If he thought her anger turned him on before, this side of her just about brought him to his knees…literally.
    â€œWait!” He wrestled one arm behind her back, doing his damndest not to hurt her, but quickly about to lose if she didn’t stop wriggling. “Gods damn it, wait and let me explain.”
    â€œInstrument of death, my ass,” she ground out between clenched teeth. Somehow Jasmine managed to slip her hand between his shirt and skin to dig her nails into his flesh.
    Oh, he liked this woman a lot.
    Wrenching her hand away from his abdomen, possibly losing inches of meat in the process, he rushed forward. Together they slammed into the wall, Jasmine taking the brunt of the impact. It wouldn’t break any bones, but it would stun the hell out of her.
    Breathing harshly, he hissed into her ear. “Listen to me. Cool your ire now.” When she began to thrash, Corin pulled back and slammed into the wall again, eliciting a grunt from her. “Get your emotions under control or you’ll regret it in a matter of minutes.”
    â€œTough guy, huh?” she panted out. “Gonna hurt a woman half your size?”
    Already the cinnamon scent began to waft from her pores. “Physiology, remember that?”
    Her breath sawed in and out of her nose. “Yeah?”
    â€œOxytocin and