hit the dirt facedown, the brand clutched in his hand. A man’s voice slid into his ears.
“You shouldn’t have come back. You don’t belong here anymore.”
But he did.
This was his home.
His family.
His.
And he wasn’t letting go of it without a fight.
He clutched the brand tighter and then everything went black.
Chapter One
Texas, Present Day
HE HADN’T HAD SEX IN forty-eight hours.
While two days of deprivation was nothing for most men, Cody Braddock wasn’t the average guy. He was a hell-raising, adrenaline-loving, nine-time Professional Bull Riders champion—known to the world as Cody “Balls to the Wall” Boyd—just weeks away from record-breaking buckle number ten.
He was also a vampire who fed off of blood and sex.
Cody was desperate for both as he walked into the crowded Sixth Street bar in the heart of Austin, Texas.
A Nickelback song blasted from the loudspeakers and vibrated the walls. A splatter of colored lights bounced off the sea of writhing bodies that filled the small dance floor. The air reeked of beer and stale cigarette smoke.
It was the kind of place people came to drown their troubles and forget. A bad day. A cheating spouse. An arrogant boss. A stack of unpaid bills.
A little liquid courage, a lot of sex, and all would be right with the world. Or so they thought.
He read that much in their gazes, and what he couldn’t see when he made direct eye contact, he felt.
Lust and desperation swirled into a nearly irresistible aphrodisiac that filled his nostrils and lured him deeper inside the club. Body heat pushed and pulled at him from every angle. Dozens of heartbeats mingled together in a steady ba-bom ba-bom that echoed in his head and throbbed through his body. A strange awareness crawled up his spine and he glanced to the right.
His gaze collided with a pair of deep, unreadable brown eyes and he quickly realized he wasn’t the only one looking for a little action tonight.
He didn’t know the guy’s name or anything about him. He only knew that the young gun wasn’t human and that he’d come to feed. A long time ago, Cody would have been surprised at running into another vampire. They’d been few and far between back when Cody had been turned.
But now…
There were more. They existed side-by-side with humans, feeding on them when the need arose and tossing them when they were finished. They were the ultimate predators. Alluring. Persuasive. Powerful. Invincible. Deadly. The moral barometer had slipped away right along with the humanity. Forgotten like a bad day.
For most.
But Cody refused to forget.
He still remembered the last beat of his heart. The last draw of breath. The last flutter of life. The memories haunted him, driving him almost as fiercely as the hunger. To find the vampire who’d slaughtered his family that fateful night and destroy him once and for all.
Cody still had several miles to go before he reached his destination—a small town north of San Antonio, Texas. But he was a hell of a lot closer than he’d been when he’d first seen the copy of Motorcycle Mania featuring the trio behind Skull Creek Choppers, the fastest growing custom motorcycle manufacturer in the south.
One glance at the picture and he’d been pulled back to the moment when his life had changed forever. When he’d changed. In a fiery blaze, he’d lost everything that mattered to him—his mother, his sister-in-law, his nephew, his brothers, his home.
Not that Brent, Travis and Colton were dead like the others. His brothers had suffered a fate far worse than a mortal death—they’d been turned just as Cody had. They lived in isolation now, feeding off blood and sex, doomed to an eternity of hunger. One eaten up by guilt, one driven by anger, one so indifferent he didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything.
And Garret Sawyer, the creative genius behind SCC, was the vampire responsible.
Cody could still remember the pain in his skull, the blackness. When he’d regained consciousness, it had been Sawyer who’d loomed over him, his fangs bared, his face and clothes covered in soot and blood. He’d held a knife in his hand.
The same knife he’d used to kill Cody’s mother.
Cody’s oldest brother Colton had seen Sawyer, as well. The same face. The blood. The knife.
It was Sawyer, all right. It had to be.
And Cody intended to make him pay for what he’d done. Maybe then the what-ifs would stop once and for all.
What if he hadn’t left his brothers to head for town?
What if he’d ridden in a minute sooner?
What if he’d been there?
Cody forced aside the endless questions and concentrated on the task at hand—feeding and gathering his strength.
He shifted his attention back to the younger vampire. He gave a quick nod. The vamp replied in kind before turning back to the woman next to him. He smiled and the brunette practically swooned. A split second later, he steered her toward the rear exit.
Cody’s gut tightened and his mouth watered, and anxiety rushed through him. His shoulder cried, reminding him of yesterday’s practice ride on an ornery bull named Mabel prior to picking up the Motorcycle Mania issue. While vampires weren’t susceptible to mortal injuries, they still felt pain. More so than the average human thanks to heightened senses. Translation—when he hurt, he friggin’ hurt.
Not for long though.
He stared through the dim interior and met a pair of deep blue eyes rimmed in a quarter inch of black eyeliner.
Her name was Laura and this was the first time she and her new boyfriend had gone out on the town as a couple. She loved the guy who stood next to her with his arm around her waist, but she wished he wouldn’t act so damned possessive. It wasn’t like she was going to ditch him. Although she might consider it if the hot-looking cowboy staring at her gave the slightest indication that he had the same thing in mind.
The arm tightened around her waist and Cody shifted his gaze to her companion. His name was Mark and he worked on a road crew. He didn’t like men looking at his woman and he sure as hell didn’t like his woman looking at any men.
Cody tipped his hat and shifted his gaze elsewhere. There were too many available women to get himself stuck in a love triangle. Especially when he wasn’t looking for love, or anything close. Not that such a thing existed. He’d been around over one hundred and fifty years and never in all that time had he seen anything close to such an emotion. Like? Yes. Lust? Hell, yes.
