Claimed by the Immortal (The Claiming) Read Online Free PDF Page B

behaving himself hadn’t been difficult in a long, long time, the fact was that having lived the past several months on the canned blood Jude purchased, he was Hungrier than ever for the taste of warm, fresh food.
    That was one carefully managed indulgence that he was not entirely used to doing without.
    He was grinding his teeth in frustration by the time they reached Caro’s apartment building. He’d have loved to just dump her outside, but her admitted fear, and the sense he had of the thing around her, prevented him from doing so.
    Whatever his personal problems, he had to do what he could to protect her...a protection that would be limited by dawn’s arrival.
    The thought frustrated him even more, mainly because he was sure, absolutely sure, that he had encountered this energy before. This thing that was tailing her. And if he didn’t have entirely too many years of memories stacked up between him and it, he’d probably identify it quickly.
    Sometimes he truly felt the weight of his years, and it never made him happy.
    * * *
    Caro couldn’t figure out what she was supposed to do now. Her apartment was empty—she’d checked it out—and Damien’s contribution to the entire process was to stand in her living room and close his eyes. She was surprised he didn’t follow the procedure she had, that any cop would.
    But then she’d already figured out he wasn’t anything like a cop. So how could he be a private investigator?
    Regardless, she guessed he was testing the place with the sense he’d used at the victims’ house: smell. Or something else. Watching him stand like a statue only gave her the opportunity to feel that wakening desire again. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t remember if she had ever been so sexually drawn to a man. In fact, she was almost certain she’d never been.
    In self-defense, she closed her eyes, too, reaching out with her sixth sense, and she felt that darkness watching her. An invisible force, an almost nonexistent thing that nonetheless had the power to frighten her.
    Why had it fixed on her? And why wouldn’t it go away? Using barely remembered skills, she tried to push it back, but it hardly withdrew at all.
    For the first time in her life, she truly wished she had listened better to her grandmother.
    Then she froze as she felt a whisper of movement in front of her. Snapping her eyes open, she found Damien standing in front of her, not six inches away.
    What the hell?
    He smiled, a very attractive smile, and despite herself she felt her heart accelerate with eager anticipation. Her mind started throwing up objections, but her body instantly reached the precipice of breathless anticipation and hope. It wanted his touches, and it wasn’t listening to reason. Just like when she’d been young and stupid.
    “You are so beautiful,” he murmured.
    Horse crap, her brain responded. She knew perfectly well she was no beauty. Passable, maybe, with even features, healthy skin and bright eyes. A little too plump for fashion, but that was the way she was built. When she put on her utility belt, she was convinced she looked dumpy.
    But she’d heard the line before—the first line on the path to seduction. It had been a long time since she’d fallen for it.
    She wanted to stiffen, to draw back to safety, but it was as if her feet were cemented to the floor.
    “Lovely,” he said softly, and reached out to touch a strand of her dark hair.
    He was touching her? She hardly knew him. Her brain shrieked warnings as her body tried to purr.
    Then his hand trailed down until it brushed over her breast. Silken waves of heat rolled through her and she realized she was in serious danger. Not from him but from herself.
    Because it would be so easy to give in.
    “Just let me...” He started to lean toward her. She felt her mouth lifting to welcome him as his hand closed over her breast.
    With his other hand, he captured her wrists behind her back, arching her in a way that made her breasts