Volatile Breath of Darkness Read online

  Let go of all inhibitions as you take pleasure in a steamy liaison with a newly

  roused volcano; an unpredictable, ready to burst, hot-blooded lover.

  The days and nights had turned into a bleak and lonely void of meaninglessness until the first time

  Nikolas Drake’s mate, Brianna Larkin, took his hand and trusted him to walk her safely out of a burning

  building. From that moment on, each day should have become an exhilarating adventure he could not wait

  to experience with her, but he could not embrace their union. It was too late for him. With age came

  ultimate power. It had stained his soul with utter darkness. He would eventually crush and destroy her if

  he allowed himself to get too close to her.

  His sexual hunger had remained as deceptively silent and still as a dormant volcano for a long time,

  but she had roused it and the pressure building up had become insurmountable. The excitement that

  surged through him whenever he heard her sweet voice or felt her touch had become a vicious and cruel

  form of suffering that he could not escape. His body was constantly on fire, burning up with a volatile

  combination of love and lust pushing him to the brink of insanity.

  He yanked his mind from hers and shoved her out of his and then, with a wave of his hand, he sent

  her away. The remainder of her mortal life was a fleeting moment. He could continue on for that long.

  The powers in the necklace would protect her and alert him of any danger. This is how it should have

  been. He should have avoided all contact with her. There was no reason to be near her. He could easily

  watch over from afar.

  So there he stood, high on top of a cliff at the northwest border of his property in Astoria, Oregon,

  staring down at the waves for hours so full of self-hatred for hurting her. He couldn’t imagine what she

  thought when he sent her away from him. No matter the attempt he couldn’t make sense of all that had

  brought him to this moment of his existence.

  VOLATILE BREATH OF DARKNESS

  By

  Candice Stauffer

  2014 Candice Stauffer

  Copyright © 2014 by Candice Stauffer

  http://www.candicestaufferparanormalromanceauthor.com/

  Edited by: Kathy Riehl

  Cover Artist: Kendra Egert

  All rights reserved.

  Names, characters, and events depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any

  resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of

  the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

  photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  Published in the United States of America

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Excerpt Hot-Blooded Breath of Darkness (unedited)

  Excerpt Insatiable Breath of Darkness (unedited)

  About Candice

  Dedication

  To my sometimes naughty and always awesome Sexy Minions! Thanks for all your love, friendship and

  support! I love you guys!

  ~ONE~

  Let go of all inhibitions as you take pleasure in a steamy liaison with a newly roused volcano; an

  unpredictable, ready to burst, hot-blooded lover.

  NIKOLAS LED BRIANNA across the parking lot as quickly as possible in hopes of getting her into the

  car and driving away from the restaurant. It would be the death of him if she changed her mind again and

  insisted that he take her back inside to dance with her once more. He used to believe whiskey brought out

  the bad in him and made him dangerous. What a joke. He was a white robed, choir singing angel, sporting

  a shiny halo, while under the influence of liquor compared to her. Bad had a whole new terrifying

  definition to him. Nothing could ever come close to comparing to the bad that whiskey brought out in

  her.

  By the time he realized that she was drinking too much, it was too late for him to slow her down. He

  made a few attempts push the toxins from her blood, but she kept distracting him and forcing him to stop.

  She had gone from being a sweet and considerate woman, to lust crazed fiend so suddenly that he ended

  up with whiplash.

  Moving so fast that he nearly plowed her over, she went from holding his hand and walking at his

  side to standing in front of him. “Do you still have my panties?”

  The truth was that he was quite baffled over it. He had given it a good deal of thought. Still he had

  not figured out how she got them off while they were dancing or without him noticing. Was he curious

  enough to ask her right now? Hell no! Not right now. Later. Maybe. “Yes I do. They are in my pocket.”

  “Are you happy right now?”

  “Very happy.” The correct words to describe his mood would have been scared to death and

  ruthlessly taunted and teased. He would rather go back to a previous night that he had. He was gravely

  injured and surrounded by a hundred powerful warriors. They were determined to carve him up and leave

  his dismembered remains hanging from trees to pretty up their camp. At least he had a hope of surviving

  that night. What hope did he have to protect himself against her naughty, fooling around craziness?

  “Are you sure? It’s so hard to determine if you’re in high spirits when you are not smiling.” She

  reached up and lifted his lips. “That’s better. You have such a sexy smile, Nikolas. As a matter of fact,

  you’re appealing all over. I cannot stop looking at you and thinking about naughty things. I want to touch

  you, to taste you, to feel you surge deep into my body. I want you to cup, squeeze, massage…oh, no.

  You’re doing it again.”

  “What are you talking about?” The mischief in her sexy grin and wildness brewing in her eyes took

  hold of him. He should’ve let it go, but his good sense plummeted into oblivion. Her natural ability to

  fascinate him was so damn potent.

  Sighing she looked down and pushed her breasts together. “You’re making my boobs super

  sensitive. Just looking at you makes my entire body fantastically ticklish and tingling. We have been

  smoldering for too long. It’s way past time for us to toss some accelerant on the fire. You need to stop

  dragging your feet. I want to burn up in the wild and fantastic inferno of glorious ecstasy until we are

  blown away by sensational simultaneous eruptions
. Don’t you?”

  Left speechless by a sudden and derailing onslaught of raw physical desire, he watched her face as

  he fought off the recklessly savage lust she had ignited in him. Then and there he imagined her body

  gripping onto and convulsing around his pulsating cock as he erupted within her. Tensing from the top of

  his head to the bottom of his feet, he hauled in a deep breath and held it. He longed to bury his aching

  shaft in her sweet heat. He wanted to make love her until they reached a monumental culmination.

  “Well anyways, this was the best night ever, wasn’t it?”

  Clenching his jaw he bit back a curse or two by forcing himself to remember that she was not in her

  right mind. Though she never fully agreed with, or understood the boundaries he had set for them to keep

  her safe. She had never before behaved with such reckless disregard for his decision to keep their

  relationship platonic. He managed what he hoped was the appearance of a smile as he looked down at her.

  “It sure was the best.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Ever?”

  “Ever.” Giving her a nudge, he tried to turn her around to get her moving again, but she obviously

  felt that she had not yet tormented him enough. Snuggling her body up to him she got up on the tips of her

  toes and locked her fingers behind his neck as she brushed her lips across edge of his jaw. “I cannot stand

  the way my body aches for you night and day, Nikolas.”

  Closing his eyes he tried to stop his body from reacting, but he failed just as he had many times

  during the past few hours. So many that he had lost count. He considered dropping to his knees and

  pleading for mercy. Once again she proved her absolute power to rip his control away from him. His heart

  thundered as it pushed more blood straight to his groin. Of course the instant she felt his erection twitch

  against her belly she pressed her body more firmly against his. She certainly possessed a great talent for

  making his cock harder than he ever thought possible. “Do you mean it? Was this really the best night

  ever for you?”

  “It couldn’t have been better.” He could not wait to get the hell away from her and end the worst

  night of his entire existence. He would never again allow her to drink any type of alcohol for any reason.

  Not ever.

  “I am thinking of a way to make this night even more wonderful.” She slowly and provocatively

  wiggled her body against his engorged and throbbing cock. “I bet you can’t guess what I am imagining.

  Do you want a hint?”

  “Let’s get you home and we can talk about it.”

  “Talk? I do not want to talk about us making love. Weren’t you listening to me? I am more in the

  mood for getting some action right now.” Bursting into a fit of laughter she stumbled backward forcing

  him to grab onto her to prevent from ending up on her butt. “You should have seen your face when I

  reached under the table and squeezed you.”

  Oh how wonderful. He was so glad that his tortured cock had been able provide her with so much

  amusement. Not!

  She tilted her head to the side and flashed that sweet, angelic, innocent smile that always meant she

  was about to give him hell. “Does it ever bother you, Nikolas?”

  “Ever? I don’t think you have ever reached under a table to squeeze me before.”

  “You are so funny.” She laughed again. “You know that isn’t what I mean.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, though he knew doing so was a terrible idea. He never understood

  why he asked loaded questions knowing he was just helping her take another shot at him.

  “I don’t want to say it out loud.” He hesitated at the ‘I am a bad, naughty girl. Bend me over and

  spank me’ smirk on her face. The riotous look in her eyes as she motioned for him to get closer terrified

  him. He had seen it plenty of times during the past few hours. “Why do you look so scared?” she laughed.

  “I only want you come a little closer, so I don’t have to ask out loud if it bothers you to walk around with

  an instantly recognizable, extremely large, magnificent bulge straining against the front of your pants all

  evening.” Visibly struggling to hold back a smile she bit down on her bottom lip. “Oh, oops. That wasn’t

  very nice. I was supposed to whisper the question to you privately. I hope no one overheard me.”

  “We need to get you home.”

  “You think too much.” Frowning, her gaze narrowed. She had not shown any sign of anger yet. He

  felt the change in her. “And it ruins everything. Any form of foreplay with you sucks. Bad. Real bad. All

  of the kissing, nibbling, teasing, petting and hugging equal a gargantuan sexual disappointment. You are

  right. We need to get me home.” She whirled around to walk to the car, but stopped and held her hands

  out.

  He wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. “It’s okay. I have you.”

  “What’s happening to me, Nikolas? My eyes. Everything just started spinning and went black and all

  the sudden. That never happens when we are together. Did you do something?”

  “It’s okay. You are able to see when we are together and you’re merged with me. You got upset with

  me and pulled your mind from mine too quickly. Maintaining a mind connection can be difficult when

  you’re intoxicated. It has never happened before, because you have never had so much to drink when we

  were together.”

  “Not just when we are together. I usually don’t drink alcohol, because I don’t like it. I really wish I

  would have remembered that tonight.”

  As soon as he felt a wave of nausea come over her he pushed it back. “I promise to remind you next

  time.”

  “Oh no.” She stopped walking and hunched over.

  The sickness was attempting to grip onto her, but he was able to prevent it from turning violent. “It’s

  going to be alright.”

  She made an attempt to push him away from her. “I feel horrible all of the sudden.”

  He knew the negative effect of consuming too much alcohol was hitting her hard because of her

  sudden withdraw from his mind. It was only going to get worse until he got her home and forced the

  toxins from her blood. “Let me pick you up.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m going to get sick.”

  “Trust me. I can control it. As soon as we get home I can push it from your blood.”

  She nodded. “Do you hate me now?”

  “Not even a little.” He slowly scooped her up, carried her to the side of the building to avoid being

  seen and shifted to his bedroom. “I’m going to lay you down on the bed.” Again moving slowly to avoid

  jostling her he lowered her down.

  “You have no idea how thankful I am for not being forced to travel in a car right now.”

  “I bet.” He took her shoes off.

  “Why did you bring me to your house?”

  He stretched out next to her and pulled her up so that her head was resting on his chest. “I’m not

  leaving you like this, plus my legs don’t hang off the end of this bed.”

  “I can’t believe we’re in bed together and I don’t even want to think of ways to get you naked so I

  can do all sorts of dirty, nasty things to your body.” She laughed softly. “I really was awful to you

  tonight. I am so sorry.”

  “You were outrageously naughty, but I forgive you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Close your eyes

  and rest for a while. When y
ou wake up you will feel much better.”

  “Except for the headache I’m not looking forward to it.”

  “I promise you will not have any pain. Sleep now.” He added a compulsion to his words to force her

  to sleep.

  ***

  Brianna woke up to the heat of Nikolas body and the weight of his strong arm wrapped around her. She

  knew it was a bad idea but, longing to get closer, she draped her leg over his waist and snuggled up to

  him. It wasn’t the first time they had fallen asleep while cuddled up together, but she could not remember

  getting into bed with him. It didn’t bother her, but it raised some questions. The last thing she recalled

  was arguing with him in the car just before they arrived at the restaurant to celebrate Julie’s birthday.

  What happened at the party? When did they leave? As she tried to sort it out she listened to the slow and

  steady beating of his heart.

  It didn’t take her long to bring to mind that their quarrel was his fault. He showed up early to pick

  her up. Rather than announce his arrival by knocking on the door, he shifted into her bedroom. She just

  happened to be standing in the middle of her room wearing a black lace bra and a matching pair of barely

  there panties. She had hardly had enough time to merge with him to see before he swept her up in his

  arms, whirled her around and pinned her back against the wall.

  To minimize the frustration she would endure when he inevitably changed his mind, she tried to

  resist the temptation to get carried away. She managed to hesitate for about two seconds before she

  wrapped her legs around his body. By the time he had claimed her mouth with his her ability hold back

  went up in smoke. Her entire body caught fire. He kissed her until she couldn’t catch her breath and then,

  as hastily as he scooped her up, he took his mouth from hers, set her down and apologized. Permitting the

  brutal strength of his passion to annihilate her resolve to not allow him to enthrall her with lust was a

  terrible mistake.

  His touch always ramped up the volatile tension between her legs. The abrasive texture of his

  calloused palms on her body as his tongue made bold sweeping, swirling motions inside her mouth never