Hunting Ground [Claiming Series, #3]

- 3 -

Kane Durand had grown used to loathing himself. He'd certainly done enough of it since Violet's passing. But now he almost revolted himself because the little wolf not only roused his hunger, but she awoke his sexual desires, as well.

He didn't want to desire anyone ever again. And he certainly didn't want to desire a mutant lycanthrope. While he said he didn't care one way or another about them, the truth was the whole notion of shape-shifting disturbed him. He might be an abomination but at least he was the same thing all the time. Besides, whatever form they took, they were still dogs. Something atavistic in him rebelled at being attracted to one.

Trouble was, she smelled human. She did smell like a banquet to him, a banquet he too often denied himself since Violet because he had refused to become intimate with anyone ever again.

But this woman had awakened nearly somnolent urges in him. He couldn't quite ignore the way his pulse accelerated, the way she called to his hunger, the way she made him want to act like one of those rogues out there.

Well, not like one of them, certainly. No, he would woo and seduce her, and teach her delights unlike any she had ever imagined.

And her eyes... Those blue-gray eyes of hers were hypnotic. He wanted to keep looking into them, yet feared their call.

It would be so easy to give in. all that held him back was Mackenzie's presence and Asher's admonition. Otherwise, he would reach for her, touch her, taste her and by the time he was done, she would no longer think vampires were monsters. Oh, no.

He caught himself, reminding himself of his promises not to get involved again, however briefly. Then it struck him that the way she called to him gave her more power than it gave him.

The irony was not lost on him.

But it also gave him a jolt. Not once in over two hundred years had he ever considered that his desires could enslave him. Yet here he was, with a powerful thirst for a female, one that was in danger of overcoming his sense.

The hunger was part of him, deep, persuasive, unlike any hunger or want he had known as a human. During the Reign of Terror, when he had been changed, he had been like most new vampires: famished and out of control. Only, in his case, surrounded by so much bloodshed, no one had tried to stop him.

But eventually, calm had returned to the world, and with a need for caution. One night he had arisen from the sleep of death to realize that if he didn't want to be forever on the move every few days or weeks, he needed to find a better way.

As a result, he had lived successfully in Paris for at least half his life, alternating every decade or so with some other city.

But now he realized something else. Asher's determination to enforce the rule had another purpose that protecting vampires from discovery or humans from predation. It also ensured that a vampire was not a slave to his innate needs.

That modicum of self-restrain was all that separated a vampire from becoming a true monster. It provided their only claim to being truly civilized.

Kane had always held himself to be utterly civilized. It disturbed him to think he might not be even yet.

He forced himself to look at Tessa while quashing his own urges. What he saw was a frightened young woman who had been through hell tonight. Considering the attack, she had suffered, it was amazing she was falling to pieces.

But then the hunger rose again and he had to look away. Mackenzie, surprisingly, didn't tempt him at all.

What was going on? In the past humans had struck him as equally edible. It was, after all, only their blood he wanted, and very little of it, actually. Some were certainly more attractive than others and made better playmates, but this response was different.