Dark Needs at Night's Edge Read Online Free PDF

resisted—barely.
    The men Néomi had been attracted to in the past had been older and handsome in a soft, cultured way. In contrast, this male was all hardness and sharp edges.
    So why did she find his battle-scarred body so attractive?
    “Oh, wake up, Conrad,” she said with difficulty. Speaking was an arduous undertaking for her—
    she often felt like she was trying to shove elephant-sized sounds through a pinhole. To her, the words came out echoing and extended. “Just... wake up.” She wanted to jump on the bed or scream in his ear. If she’d had a bucket of water—
    Conrad’s eyes shot wide open.
    He comes to. The light is murder on his sensitive eyes. Pain shoots through him. He grits his teeth against waves of it.
    Get free. He fights his bonds. Limbs feel leaden. Drugged. Rage stabs him, the need to kill strangles him like clenched hands around his own throat.
    How long have I been out? He remembers where he is. The manor—as forbidding as he’d sensed it would be. When he’d been in the car, the sight of it had made him sweat and thrash.
    The feeling of being watched is multiplied here, the tingle on the back of his neck unrelenting.
    He tenses. He’d seen... had he seen a spill of shining black hair as some female twirled round? Can’t determine what’s real and what’s illusion. Before she vanished, he’d thought he’d glimpsed blue eyes going wide with surprise. He’d smelled roses and had seen a bared shoulder—slim and impossibly pale. Yet no one else had reacted to her.
    Which means she can’t be real.
    Anything he sees that others don’t is suspect. She’s likely a figment in his mind from another’s memory. Someone that he’s drunk had known her as a wife, a mistress... or one of their own victims.
    He strains harder against the chains. Nothing. Metal like this shouldn’t be able to hold him.
    Unless... Mystickally reinforced.
    Damn his brothers to hell! Why in the fuck would they bring him here? This place feels wrong, menacing. He doesn’t know how or why. Doesn’t care. Just know I have to get free.
    Suddenly the smell of roses surrounds him. I’m not alone in this room. Though he sees nothing, there’s another presence here. Is it the female from before? Was there a female before? He begins to sweat.
    Something is inches from him, creeping closer... he could swear he feels warm breaths against his ear. He writhes, baring his fangs in warning. The need to kill seethes inside him.
    Closer... closer...
    From directly beside his ear he scarcely hears a voice. He can’t make out the faltering words.
    But he senses expectancy—a yearning that hits him in roiling waves. His head feels like it’s about to explode. He’s supposed to do something. “What? What?” He doesn’t know... doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do...
    He hates this need he senses.
    “Seeeeee meeeeee?” the faint voice says. He jerks his head back and forth. Sees nothing.
    He lunges upright, feeling a shock of something, like static electricity.
    Conrad’s body drifted through hers, making her gasp and him shudder.
    He stumbled to his feet. Confusion appeared to mount within him. “Someone’s here. Real?”
    His voice sounded even raspier than last night.
    “Conrad, be calm,” she said slowly.
    His eyes glowed a deeper red. “Show—yourself!” Could he possibly be responding to her words? Or did he merely have some kind of vampire’s sense that he wasn’t alone?
    With a low growl, he backed against the wall as he worked on the manacles. Finally he looped his bound hands under his feet to bring them forward. Seeming to relish the chance to fight, he intently scanned the room for an enemy, for a kill.
    As Néomi hovered about him, waving her hand in front of his face, his eyes darted wildly, his head jerking right, then left. Frowning, she brandished her forefinger, stabbing his eye, passing straight through it.
    He didn’t blink.
    She floated backward as if pushed. He can’t see me. Heavy