Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

My hormones thought so too. "Tell me about the wolf who hurt you."

He stopped, but his fingers were so warm against my skin it felt like he was branding me. Then his gaze met mine, and I saw the hardness there. Rhoan was right. This man would never give me anything more than sex. The wolf who had been here before me had totally destroyed this vampire's heart

His touch left me, and while I regretted that, curiosity was still stronger than desire. One of these days, I was going to have to leash my curious instincts before they landed me in water too hot to get out of. Or, in this case, out of luck with one of the sexiest vampires I'd ever come across

He leaned back in the chair, his face expressionless. "Why?"

"Because Rhoan warned against getting too involved with you, and since he rarely gives that sort of advice, I'm wondering why he chose to do so now."

Surprise touched his stern features. "Rhoan said that?"

"You've said that, too," I reminded him. "I'm gathering that we werewolves are good enough for a dance or two, but nothing more?"

His gaze met mine, the dark depths cold and hard. "Basically, yes."

"Meaning, you hold the all-too-human view that werewolves are little more than whores who have little or no control over their base instincts?"

"Yes."

I snorted, inexplicably disappointed. "And here I was thinking that a thousand years might have knocked a little knowledge into your brain."

His smile was grim. "A thousand years has knocked knowledge into my brain. And my experiences with wolves have confirmed my beliefs."

I thought back to the pictures I'd seen of his fiancee. Remembered the articles saying she'd disappeared. "Eryn was a wolf, wasn't she?"

His nod was short, sharp

"What did she do?"

His hesitation was brief, but nevertheless there. His reluctance to talk about the subject was obvious, and yet he was. Did that suggest he wanted me more than he wanted to keep his secrets?

"We met during a moon phase," he said, voice low and devoid of the sexy lilt. "But the fever continued on after. I couldn't get enough of her. I thought it was love."

I raised an eyebrow. "And it wasn't?"

"No. It was a drug called Everlasting."

I frowned. Everlasting wasn't a drug I'd ever heard of - though there were certainly plenty of them to be found in the clubs. "What does it do?"

"Imitate the moon fever in races other than werecreatures."

My gaze widened. "That's dangerous."

"Very. Thankfully, it was only experimental. Eryn was working for the company developing it and decided to do a little field test. I was the subject she chose."

Then she didn't research well enough, because anyone with half a brain could see you didn't want to mess with this particular vampire. "So she never loved you?"

"Oh, I'm sure she loved my money."

I blinked at the sheer depths of anger so evident in his flat tones. "What happened?"

"I bought the company, then destroyed the whole project."

"So Everlasting is no more?"

"No."

"And what about Eryn?"