Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds) by Dara Nelson Page A

feel safe.  I don’t feel safe, I have nightmares.  That’s how it goes,” she said, still sounding angry.
    He took a few hesitant steps towards the closet.  He still couldn’t see her in it. She must be tucked back in the far corner.  “Miss?  Please come out.”
    “I can’t,” she said.
    “You can’t?  Or you won’t?”
    “I can’t,” she whispered, and he could actually hear the blush that filled her cheeks.
    “Miss, what do you mean you can’t?” he said as his own heartbeat quickened.
    “Why aren’t you answering my question?” he said.
    “ Because I’m embarrassed,” she said.
    “Embarrassed?  About what?  I’m a doctor, remember?  I’ve seen it all.”
    “Yeah, but you’re a handsome doctor, and that makes all the difference in the world,” she mumbled to herself – but his vampire hearing picked up every word….and he couldn’t help but smile.
    “I, well, I’ve always gotten really hot when I sleep.  Ever since I reached my teens, my body can be like a furnace at night.  When that happens, I, umm, I , well, I throw off whatever I’m wearing at the time without realizing it.”
    He didn’t speak for a second, he was afraid she would hear his pounding heartbeat in his voice.  He swallowed hard.  “So, you’re completely naked in there?  Well, this is a first for me.  I can honestly say that there’s never been a naked woman in my closet before,” he said, smiling.
    “Don’t laugh.  It’s not funny and it’s your fault.  And my ankle is killing me.”
    “I’m not laughing,” said his voice from right above her, making her gasp.  His hand held out his robe to her, but he kept his head turned towards the bedroom.  Ever the gentleman.  She took a deep sniff of his robe before she wrapped it around her body – it smelled just like him: sweet and sexy and something that she definitely wouldn’t mind having wrapped around her body.
    “Are you covered up?” he said.
    “Yes.”
    His hanging clothes parted from just above her, and he was smiling the most beautiful smile at her when she looked up.  It was a smile that she felt like she could see every morning and never get tired of.  She didn’t even bother trying to stand – she just reached her arms out to him and he leaned down and scooped her up.  The robe, while it was tide tightly around her, was not down to her legs because she had forgotten to tuck it under her backside – something she realized the second the warm flesh on his arm touched the soft skin on the back of her knees.  A rush of air flew past her lips as she inhaled sharply – and was that a shiver from him or was she imagining things?
    ****************************************** ‘Crap!’ he thought as the spark shot from his arm straight into his groin.  His cock immediately throbbed and strained against his jeans – all from touching the backs of her knees????  What was he?   Some horny teenager?  This was really getting ridiculous. He was a man so firmly embedded on the side of control, that very few vampires even knew he existed except for his close friends, because that was how he wanted it.  The last thing he needed was some newbie coming to him to find out what things were like before The Dark Time, as it was known:  Before the group of vampires that were known as The Elders came into power and mutated their very genetics to their own liking – made them so they couldn’t create other vampires themselves, only The Elders could.  The Elders made them so that they couldn’t control their fangs, couldn’t stop themselves when they fed on humans – basically they made them so that they were at the mercy of The Elders – who supplied them with the blood they needed in order to survive.  Vampires now were genetically different from vampires like himself who were around before the change.  There were very few like him around anymore,  although he had heard some talk that there was a new one: a female, who had