Reporter Jazlyn Adams knows theres something different in the air when she arrives at the scene of a brutal murder, something dark. Then an alluring stranger tells her the woman was killed by a vampireand that he wants Jazlyn to expose their existence to the world. Her brain tells her hes crazybut her body is undeniably aroused by him.
Zachariah Novak needs Jazlyn help in his quest against the Darklings. Seducing her would interfere with his plansyet hes wanted her since the first time he set eyes on her. The desire to introduce her to the forbidden pleasures he enjoys is too enticing to resist, and her response to his touch only increases his passion. But when Zachariahs request to investigate the Darklings puts Jazlyn in danger, he will have to choose between his mission and her safety.
Seduced by the Darkling
Lauren Hawkeye
www.millsandboon.co.uk
MILLS & BOON
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Copyright
Chapter One
Something dark whispered in the night.
As soon as the thought entered Jazlyn Adams head, she dismissed it. True the fog that was as thick and heavy as wet wool was a creepy addition to the crime scene that she was staking out. But that was a function of the weather, not something supernatural.
Still, the skin at the back of her neck felt as though icy fingers were dancing over it as she waited across the parking lot from the seedy motel that the police had just entered. She was part of a large group of media that had congregated, cameras and pens, tablets and smartphones in every hand. They were silent to a fault, muscles tensed, waiting for somethinganythingto break the tension.
There was no need to talktheyd all heard the same story on the police scanners they illegally manned. The skinny kid with the bad skin who manned the front desk had heard frantic screaming and cries for help coming from room 66. Hed been a brave kid, summoning up the courage to approach the door, even without knowing what horror lurked on the other side.
He hadnt gotten there in time. Jazlyn was confident about that detail, because the kid in question was sitting on a concrete divider in the asphalt lot, dry heaving onto the gravel. A matronly woman in uniform crouched beside him, rubbing his back and speaking in a low murmur that Jazlyn couldnt quite make out.
Here they come! The speaker was a portly man who stood chain smoking to Jazlyns right. He dropped his cigarette in his excitement, and Jazlyn tore her stare from the battered door across the lot to watch the ember flicker quickly from tangerine to ash. So easily extinguishedjust like a life.
She squirmed uncomfortably and resumed her vigil. She was no stranger to the seedier part of humanityshed been a crime reporter for the Metropolis Gazette for nearly seven years and had peered into the black dregs of the human soul. But nothing had felt quite like this before.
Much as her rational reporters brain tried to reject it, her mind kept whispering the word evil over and over again in her mind.
Two police officers exited from the motel room, their faces grim. They conferred briefly with the woman attending to the witness, then removed their latex gloves and crossed the lot to where Jazlyn and her peers stood. There was a frenzy of movement as they each readied their recording devices.
Jazlyn smiled as she tugged her battered paper notepad and stubby pencil from the snug denim at her pocket. One of the cops was Ernie Loewen, her ex. She wasnt sorry that their relationship had ended in her early twentieshe could be a mean son of a bitch. Why she had stayed with him for two yearswhy she had lived with himshe still didnt know. He had had a change of heart, though, had softened up and even now had a wife and kid. That meant that he also felt guilt about how he had treated her, and so he snuck her extra info from time to time.
She expected that shed get a little asidea little extra informationafter the official statement had been made.
Unidentified female victim, dead on arrival. Death appears to have been caused by blood loss from trauma to the inner thigh, but this has not been confirmed. At this time, no motive or suspects for this crime have been identified, but it will be treated as a homicide. We urge any individual with information pertaining to this crime to come forward. It was the taller man who spoke, and he was quickly barraged with questions from the ever-thickening crowd of reporters.
Word had gotten out, and everyone wanted a shred of the story.
Jazlyn caught Ernies eye and raised her left eyebrow in question. He nodded and gestured with his head for her to make her way to the left of the crowd. When she got there, he lifted up the yellow tape for her to duck under. The sticky side caught threads of her glossy brown hair, pulling the strands from her scalp.
Ouch. She winced as she straightened back up, her hand automatically reaching up to massage the tender skin.
Are you okay? Ernies hand was on her elbow instantly, his puppy dog-brown eyes full of concern, worry etching the lines around his mouth.
Im fine, Ernie. Jazlyn sighed and hitched her massive leather satchel up further on her shoulder. She knew that he was just being nice, but sometimes he went a bit too far when he was trying to make up for their shady history. In fact, she sometimes suspected that if she even whispered the words, Ernie would leave his wife and child and come back to her just to right past wrongs.
It drove her a little bit nutsand, perversely, now that he was nice she no longer found him attractive. It was her curseshe liked them tall, dark and dangerous.
Still, she forced a smile to her lips. He was being nice, and he was giving her story an edge that the others wouldnt havesomething that both she and they knew, judging by the grumbles that she could hear behind her, on the other side of the tape.
So whats up? She stuffed her notepad back into her pocket. In her experience, recording devices of any kind made cops nervous. Even though they had a history, Ernie was no different.
This is brutal. So brutal. Ernie shuddered as he leaned in close to her. Jazlyn suspected that he sniffed the scent of her shampoo that clung to her hair as he did so, despite the dark situation surrounding them, and resisted the urge to shake her head.
Its like she was attacked by an animal. A big, wild animal. Jazlyn watched her exs already pale skin turn even whiter. He shuddered, and his hand strayed to the gun that was strapped to his belt. The movement reminded Jazlyn of the icy fingers that had danced over her neck only moments earlier.
Who is she? This was the worst part of her jobputting a name to the body that had journeyed beyond life, and then later on a face and story to that name. The dead were never just stories to Jazlyn.
Ernie shook his head sadly, his fingers still tracing over the butt of his gun. Jane Doe, for now. Theres no ID in the room, and shes too mangled for an ID right now. Well have to check the missing person reports.
Wow. Jazlyn had never worked a case where the victim was beyond recognition. There was always a face, a picture that could be shown aroundeven if the name took some time. She bled out from the trauma, then?
No official word yet, but I cant imagine that it would be anything else.
Anything else?
No. Thats it for now. You could call me later, see if theres anything else, he said in a hopeful voice. Jazlyn wouldnt call him. The eagerness with which he broached the subject brought to mind thoughts of his wife and child and consequently made her sick to the stomach.
Thanks, Ernie. She held out her hand and cringed when he drew her into a stiff, one-armed hug that she retreated from as soon as she was able. Maybe Ill do that.
Yeah...maybe. Or maybe not. Jazlyn shook her head as she made her way across the lot. It was time to head back to the office, anyway. Shed write up a quick article and send it to Bob, her editor, before she signed off for the night.
When she reached the edge of the parking lot, she looked back over her shoulder. The crowd of reporters was even larger now, and another cop had joined Ernie and his partner in the effort to satisfy their shouted questions.
One man drew her eye, and her feet drew to a halt as she caught his eyes. He stood at the edge of the crowd, his hands tucked deeply into the pockets of his long black peacoat. He was pale, so very pale, with hair black as night that hung lifeless around his face.
Though he didnt fit in with the disheveled crowd of denim-clad rowdies who called themselves media, it wasnt his attire that caught her attention. No, it was something morethe way he stood perhaps, so still that she wondered if he could be real. Or maybe it was the fact that he was watching herwatching intentlyinstead of trying to cajole more details about the dead woman from the police.
As she stood looking back at the man, her chin raised in defiance, she couldnt help but feel the stranger was somehow responsible for the unease she felt. She took a few steps backward before turning and walking away as briskly as she could manage before breaking into a jog. No matter how she tried to shake it off, the sensation remained. She didnt like itshe wasnt easily spooked, and the feeling didnt sit well with her.
She was distracted enough by it and by the man who seemed to have eyes only for her that she didnt see the massive figure until she had walked right into him.
Aah! Jazlyn let loose with a shriek and swung her heavy satchel forward in defense. It connected solidly with a wall of flesh, and the person she had run into grunted.
Jazlyn looked up...and then up some more. The man standing in front of her was huge, and as she took in the incredibly well-muscled frame, the dark shadow on the strong jaw, the fall head of nut-brown hair, she couldnt tell whether the spike of adrenaline fizzing through her veins was from the fright shed gotten at finding that she wasnt alone on the quiet street or from the wall of pure male that she had just smacked into.
He was looking down at her with the barest hint of amusement playing over the corners of his lips. She berated herself for being so jumpy.
Im so sorry. You just startled me. Jazlyn crouched to retrieve the bag that now lay on the ground, scooping the pencils and loose change that had fallen out of it back into the depths of the leather. Embarrassment chased away her nerves, and she cringed as she realized that she had just assaulted a perfectly innocent person on the street.
Apologies. The barest hint of an accent that Jazlyn didnt recognize caressed the word, and she had to focus hard on not drooling. She wasnt in the habit of ogling strange men on the street, but this one was...wow. Just wow.
Its okay. She heard the breathlessness in her own voice and cringed. She wasnt a flirtatious woman, and never had beenshe prided herself on being exactly as she presented herself. But then, shed never come across a man who caused her to ache just by looking at him.
You should be more careful. The mans voice held only the very slightest bit of chastisement, but it got Jazlyns back up.
I already apologized. Standing again, she swung her bag back over her shoulder and tried to look past the fact that she was very attracted to this man My bad, okay?
Indeed. There was that hint of amusement again. Im not referring to the fact that you dont pay any attention to where youre walking but to the neighborhood and the hour.
Jazlyn squinted up into the mans very nearly perfect face. His eyes were green, deep and dark but held no malice. As she scrutinized him, she realized that she felt none of the chill in his presence that she had when shed looked at the black-haired man back at the crime scene.
I appreciate your concern. She couldnt think of what else to say. But Im a big girl. Ive got it covered. The man didnt replyjust continued to look at her as though he could see right into the very heart of her.
She didnt like it, yet his very presence sent her hormones into a jitterbug. The combination was unsettling.
K. Well. Sorry again. Before she could make herself feel even more awkward, Jazlyn sucked in a deep breath and brushed past the man, though what she wanted to do was press him back against the building wall and wrap her legs around his waist while devouring his lips with her own. Heat suffused her skin as the image crowded her consciousness.
What was wrong with her? He was a stranger. A gorgeous one, yes, but shed met many good-looking men in her life. Well, no matter. Shed never see him again.
She made her way straight home instead of heading to the office firstshe was too shaken, and she could work from home. As the stranger had bade her, she was more cognizant of her surroundings than she had been. She couldnt shake the feeling that someone was following heror at the very least watching her.
No, she couldnt shake that sensation, but as she reached the lobby door of her apartment building and slid gratefully inside, she realized that since she had run into stranger number two, she hadnt been scared at all.
Chapter Two
Zachariah Novak wrapped himself in the shadows that dusted the corners of Jazlyn Adams small apartment. She was nervousnot only could he smell the light champagne scent that the nerves added to her blood but he had also watched her as she had sagged against her door once shed thrown the deadbolt.