Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 by Vivi Anna

Necropolis was formed, and its citizens were given their own level of government and law, Caine was the one who oversaw the creation of the OCU, without much help from the human community.
    She respected that level of dedication and determination. But she supposed having lived so long allowed him time to become goal driven.
    After fiddling with the glove box, Eve glanced over at Caine. His eyes were straight forward, his hands tight on the wheel, and he looked very focused on driving. Focused.
    That was a good way to describe him. She wondered if he attacked every task, every activity, with such concentration.
    For a brief moment, an image of Caine flashed in her mind. Sexy and sleek, he stalked across a room toward her, his gorgeous blue eyes glinting like cobalt blue steel.
    She shook her head, dislodging the image, and turned back to the glove box. Keep your mind on the boring gray plastic. Much safer that way.
    “Would you like some music?”
    She nodded, eager for anything to break the disturbing tension the sexual images created in her.
    Caine turned on the SUV’s stereo system. Within seconds, the hauntingly melodious sound of stringed instruments floated through the speakers. Eve thought she had never heard anything so breathtaking in her life. At least, not until the poignant heart-wrenching voice joined in. Instantly, tears sprang to her eyes and her chest tightened with emotion.
    She could hardly breathe; the intensity felt like it was crushing her.
    “Oh my God,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I have never heard anything so beautiful, so moving.”
    “Nadja Devanshi.” Caine sighed. “She sings like an angel.”

    The tears flowed freely down her face and she closed her eyes while listening to the music. It was an opera, she was sure, but it was sung in a language she’d never heard before. However, she didn’t need to understand the words to know that the song was about loss and pain. Eve could feel it in her heart, in her head. Nothing like this had ever affected her before. It seemed almost unnatural.
    Her eyes sprang open and she looked at Caine. “Turn it off.”
    “What?”
    “I said turn it off. Please.”
    He pushed the stop button on the stereo. Abruptly, they were plunged into silence.
    “What’s the matter?”
    “Her voice. It seemed to overpower me.”
    Caine shook his head. “Right. I should’ve known. I didn’t realize it would affect you so intensely.”
    Eve ran a hand over her face, scrubbing away the last of her tears. The tightness in her chest lessened, and she was able to breathe without feeling the need to sob uncontrollably.
    “Do you have that…that power?” she asked, her voice quiet, the need to cry still clutching at her throat.
    “No. Every vampire is different.”
    “Does her voice affect you?”
    He chuckled. “Yes, I suppose it does, but not in the same way it did you.”
    “What is your power?”
    “I can sense things, strong emotions mostly.” He glanced at her. “If someone is afraid, even if they try to mask it, I can sense their fear.” He turned his gaze back to the dark road. “It comes to me as a smell or taste.”
    “All emotions?”
    He nodded, and she thought she saw a twitch of his lips. “Some more than most.”
    She stared at his profile, wanting to trace a fingertip along the line of his jaw. His muscles twitched there, and for some reason, she wanted to smooth it away. She wondered if he could sense that she wanted to touch him, if he could smell her blossoming attraction.

    Pulling her gaze from him, she looked down at her hands and tried to will her feelings away. Just knowing that he could sense them, taste them even, made her even more uncomfortable than before. It was hard enough keeping them from her face, or from her voice. To know that Caine could read them anyway, no matter what she did, caused a treacherous ripple of pleasure over her body. She shivered, knowing that he could probably read that,