Newly Undead In Dark River (Dark River Days, #1)

by Grace McGinty

This wasn't what I did. I didn't go home with guys I barely knew. I stuck to those Cosmopolitan-ordained rules: four dates before you release the goodies. Mika McKellen was no slut. I was a good girl through and through. But I wasn't Mika anymore. I didn't have to stick by the rules to protect my image, to make my parents proud. Raine could have her beefcake and eat it too.

“Well, I'll be. I was sure you were going to go after the good Sheriff, but watching that little exchange with the Drifter, I can see why you'd be attracted to the bad boys. Now drink this.”

“Now I don't have to worry that you'll get too carried away and get exsanguination. Now go, say your goodbyes, and chase down that hunk o' vampire. If I were a little younger, I'd probably race you.” She laughed and walked away.

When the taste of his blood hit my tongue, something came over me, something I couldn't control, and didn't really want to control.

We were on the couch in a blink of an eye, and I rolled on top of him. I tore at his clothes like an animal, needing to feel his skin beneath my fingers.

I felt the slight prick of his fangs piercing my breast. When he started to draw my blood, my tight nipple still in his mouth, I lost all coherency. I writhed against his erection, still annoyingly covered by his jeans. I rubbed my aching flesh against him, the delicious friction building and building until I cried out, my breaths coming in pants.

Once you’ve pierced the skin, wrap your lips around it and suck. I'll tell you when to stop. I got you.”

Judge released my wrist and stuck his finger in my mouth, releasing the suction from his neck. I mewled at the loss, but his hand threaded in my hair, keeping me from launching back against his neck, back to the delicious nectar of his blood. “Lick the wound.” His voice was guttural, barely coherent, but I did what he said. The bleeding stopped instantly.

“Holy fucking shit,” I panted out. My lungs heaved for breath as if I had just run a marathon. I went to roll off him, but he held me firmly against him. I laid my head against his shoulder, and he nuzzled my hair. “Is sex always going to be like that?” One of his hands dropped to my ass, and he gave it a love tap. “It will be with me, Rainy Day. Every. Damn. Time.”

I wasn't surprised to wake up the next evening and find Judge gone from his side of the bed. I could smell his scent on the sheets, but the bed was cold. Judge was a drifter, and if that didn’t scream commitment issues, then nothing did. He was never going to get up and cook me breakfast. A slow grin spread across my face. I didn't even care.

My eyes shot to the stranger, and my fangs extended. The stranger curled his upper lip. “Don't look at me like I'm a hamburger, Death Dealer. You're hot, but I'm not looking to be anyone’s dinner.” I whacked a hand over my mouth, and Walker punched the stranger's arm. “Don't talk to her like that, Brody. She's new. Not even a week old.”

Brody shook it, and I pulled away with a gasp. His skin was so hot, it was like he was running a fever. I looked at him with wide eyes. “First time touching something that's alive since your turning?”

Walker squeezed my shoulder and left to talk to Angeline. I was starting to think that Walker had a serious thing for Angeline. I didn’t want to examine the burning feeling in my chest that came on the heels of that thought.

Judge sat next to me on the couch, making Brody growl again. I could hear his heartbeat move until it was just opposite me. Standing sentinel probably. Judge chuckled. “I see you got yourself a pet as well. You have had a busy couple of days.” Brody's heart beat faster, and I could almost hear his blood boiling.

“I'm sorry. I apologize for my rudeness. I was just worried about my girl.” I scoffed. Now I understood what was going on here. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was some macho bullshit. “You're still being a prick. We both know I'm not 'your' girl. I'm my own girl, so you can just lay off the territorial bullshit, both of you.”

“I'm doing my own digging into your maker. I'm close to something. Stay safe,” he whispered against my lips. This was the Judge I knew, the one without all the bravado. The intense, passionate man with a wit so sharp, he could tear a person to shreds with it.

I nodded and squeezed his forearms. I knew he cared, despite his teasing. But he was a wild one, and I didn't fool myself into thinking that we were anything but passionate passing acquaintances.

“Mika McKellan was last seen by her friends in Vancouver over a week ago. McKellen, a college student at UWS, is believed to be hitchhiking her way across Alberta, up towards the Yukon. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to contact the police hotline.”

I didn't want to think that I had the ability to kill a family; mothers and children, innocents and guilty alike, but deep down, there was a hunger for blood that never eased.

If I wanted to have sex with a good-looking guy with a Southern drawl who made my panties wet and whose kisses set me on fire, then that's what I'd damn well do.

Anger welled up in me. My attacker, my maker, had made me helpless. It wasn't something I ever wanted to feel again.

As if to reiterate her point, Doc Alice handed me a bag of blood. The woman was like a walking blood bank. She gave them out like suckers at the end of a doctor's appointment.

Well, holy crap on toast. Brody wanted to be my boyfriend. Why hadn't hot guys with abs like a washboard wanted to be my boyfriend when I was a human? Apparently being a vampire was like being married, but times ten. Now that I wanted to be free and easy with my sex life, someone wanted to make an honest woman of me. I'd ponder that quandary later.

Beatrice was grinning. I had a theory that she was trying to discover if I could die of a heart attack, even as a vampire.

But don't go getting your heart set on him, Lass. I know his type. It'd be easier to pin down a cloud.

He had a point. I probably would have had a coronary on the spot if a tiger had been lying on my living room rug. Now I just felt like a jerk.

I tried to draw my eyes back to his face, completely against their will and my more amorous judgment. My fangs punched out, and I groaned with embarrassment. I was like a teenage boy, every lustful thought and out they popped.

I looked up, noticing that Brody was still shirtless. “I'm serious, Brody. I have really poor impulse control.” He cocked his head, his gaze intense. “Well, stop denying yourself.”

“I want you to bite me.” I looked in his eyes, hard, to make sure he wasn't joking, and that he was in his right mind. “I can't. I've never, you know, with anyone who wasn't a vamp. What if I hurt you?” Or drained him dry.

“I trust you. Besides, I'm not completely defenseless. If you get carried away, I can stop it.” He stared down at me. Somehow I was only inches from his face. “Are you sure?” I whispered. He nodded, and that was enough.

I could hear Brody moan, and he was grinding against me. I was so blissed out by the taste of him that I was hardly aware of my body.

Sealing the wound with my tongue, I rocked away. My body felt languid and full. The hunger in me was sated for the first time in weeks. I collapsed against Brody's chest. “Are you okay?” I mumbled. “Tired, and woozy, but okay. You?”

“It's the magic in my blood that makes you feel satisfied. It's not like that with humans.”

I was a woman obsessed. Not with Brody, though he did look positively delicious lying naked on my bed, his arms tucked under his cheek and his delightful ass bared to the world. His hair played over the muscles of his back, and I wanted to run my fingers through it. No, what had me transfixed was the way his pulse ticked away in the long column of his throat. Thump. Thump. Thump. I couldn’t drag my eyes away. “You gotta stop looking at me like I’m breakfast,” he grumbled, and my eyes shot to his face. Whoops. Busted.

“I, uh, was watching…” Yeah, I had nothing. “You just tasted really nice, and now I can’t get enough.” He rolled over and stretched. Finally, my eyes moved from his throat to considerably lower. Like real, real low. “I take it back. You can look at me like that any morning,” he purred.

“Raine?” Walker's voice echoed around my apartment, and for a moment, I panicked, like I’d been caught cheating. Then I remembered he wasn’t my boyfriend or my partner. He was my friend, at best.

Brody laughed, but he stood up, and I sucked in a gasp. Naked, he was glorious.

“I see you were busy.” I stared at his face, wondering if Brody was right. Was Walker so angsty because he had a thing for me? My belly flip-flopped at the idea.

If I closed my eyes, I could still imagine how his body felt beneath my hands when I’d almost nailed him in public on my second day in town.

Mika would have been trying to get him on some kind of commitment lockdown, but I wasn’t Mika anymore. I was Raine, a sampler of sexy supernaturals. Still a little high on Brody’s blood, feeling bolder than I had any right to be, I stepped closer to Walker, until I was well inside his personal space. Looking up at him through my lashes, I saw his nostrils flare. “I wa...

His green eyes burned down at me, taking on that odd glow I’d seen on my very first day. The one he got when he was worked up. I felt my lips curl into a smug grin. Still smiling, I lift...

“Besides, I thought you were dating Judge?” I stopped, turning toward him. “What does it matter to you who I’m dating, Sheriff?” I looked him straight in those glorious eyes, not giving him the opportunity to break away. His jaw ticked. “I just want you to be careful.”

I quirked my eyebrow again. Once again, I got into his space, pressing my body close until my soft curves were pressed against the long, hard lines of his body. He sucked in a breath, and my heart was thundering. “Is that the only reason, Walker?” The part of my brain that was still a nineteen-year-old human was doing a pterodactyl screech of excitement inside my head.

“I care for you, Rainy Day. But I’m not the kind of man you pin all your hopes for the future on. That’s much more the good Sheriff’s speed. I’m just a good time.” “Not a long time?” I quipped, even though I thought I was getting the ‘let’s just keep it casual’ speech.

“I’m not asking for anything from you—only what you want to give. Just a warm body on cold nights. Believe it or not, not every girl is looking for you to put a ring on it.” He laughed and kissed me hard. I’d kissed three hot guys in less than fifteen minutes. That had to be a record, right?

Also, I was a little embarrassed. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from speaking. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, and Nico shrugged. “Sorry. It’s one of my gifts, I guess. I am unable to control it. People like to tell me things with very little prompting. It is why I am the town counselor. It has its benefits.” “As an interrogator?” I said, disgruntlement coursing through me. Now I knew why they insisted on these post-turning therapy sessions. “In the past, yes. In a much darker time in history.”

Brody inclined his head and then opened the front door for me, like a perfect gentleman. Like I hadn’t been sucking face with him a couple of hours ago. Well, sucking something anyway.

“Not going to lie, Brody. I kinda expected you to be run outta town by Mr. Tall, Dark and Overprotective.” Brody laughed, his fingers curling around my hip and pulling me closer. “Eventually he’ll pull the police-issued baton out of his ass and realize he wants you, but until then, I’m going to soak you up,”

“I think the real worry is your homicidal-looking friend that likes to lurk in the shadows and pretend he only wants to hit it and quit it.”

“So you’re the juice pouch?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Brody. I groaned and covered my eyes.