Susan Krinard - Twilight Crossing

Bound by blood, sealed in secrets

A half-blood Rider, Timon has a duty to anyone under his protection, but his intense attraction to scientist Jamie McCullough is complicating his latest mission. In a moment of desperation, he makes a difficult choice. His bite heals her—and creates a bond that neither of them can resist.

As she heads for a conclave convened to create new peace between humans and vampires, Jamie carries a secret that could secure peace everlasting. But before she has a chance to reveal it, she’s accused of bringing a vampire-killing virus to the negotiations. Though Timon is willing to pay the ultimate price to save her, can he first win the ultimate challenge of her trust?

“Teach me, Timon,” she whispered.

Taking her in his arms again, he lowered her to the ground and laid her on the blanket. Without a word he braced his arms on either side of her shoulders, leaned over her and kissed her.

This was not like the first kisses. It was much deeper, with that leashed ferocity, but also the tenderness she had felt in him before. His tongue ran along the inside of her lips, and a rush of warmth gathered between her thighs.

A normal response, she thought. But then she wasn’t thinking about anything but the kiss, hesitantly returning it, touching her tongue to his.

Then she felt his teeth, and her muscles stiffened.

Timon drew back. “You’re not ready,” he said hoarsely.

“Will you...bite me?” she asked.

“Not unless you want me to.”

“No,” she said. “Not yet.”

SUSAN KRINARD has been writing paranormal romance for nearly twenty years. With Daysider she began a series of vampire paranormal romances, the Nightsiders series, for Mills & Boon Nocturne.

Sue lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband, Serge, her dogs, Freya, Nahla and Cagney, and her cats, Agatha and Rocky. She loves her garden, nature, painting and chocolate...not necessarily in that order.

Twilight Crossing

Susan Krinard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Ginger Tansey, DVM, for her help with information on viruses and emergency first-aid treatment. Any and all errors are mine.

With gratitude to my editor, Leslie Wainger, who exemplifies everything an outstanding editor should be.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Acknowledgment

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Extract

Copyright

During the fifty years following the post-War Armistice between the Opiri and humanity, the world slowly began to heal. As ruins crumbled and wilderness took the place of old towns and cities, both humans and vampires had to make difficult adaptations and hard choices.

In the earlier days of the “cold war,” human Enclaves, usually built out of cities that survived the War, paid tribute to the Opiri in the form of “blood-serfs,” criminals sent to the Opir Citadels in return for the cessation of blood raids on human communities. Citadels and Enclaves continued to spy on one another via half-blood agents—the Opiri’s “Darketans” and the Enclave’s dhampires—operating in the neutral Zone between cities, and skirmishes continued to break out between them, challenging the uneasy truce.

Over time, two significant trends put an increasing strain on the Armistice: the gradual reduction and eventual end to the practice of blood tribute, and the formation of new “mixed” colonies, in which Opiri and humans lived together in relative peace and cooperation.

This cooperation, however, was largely confined to these smaller communities, and communication between Enclaves and Citadels remained erratic until the rise of the Riders, a brotherhood of half-blood horseman whose work it was to carry messages and escort travelers across the western half of the former United States of America. Known for their skill in wilderness survival and fending off rogue Freeblood packs as well as human raiders, the Riders gained a reputation for trustworthiness and complete neutrality. Facilitation of contact and travel among human and Opir cities led to new alliances and discussions of a permanent peace, one in which the “mixed” colonies would provide an example of coexistence across the entire western region.

Thus, the original Conclave was born: a meeting of delegations from every major Citadel, Enclave and mixed colony in the West. The Conclave was to be held in the neutral area of the former city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was to be the first such meeting since the signing of the Armistice, and the Riders were to take the role of peacekeepers and upholders of the Conclave’s laws.

Though hope ran high for the success of the Conclave, there were many who resisted the idea of an ultimate peace and the cultural changes that would become necessary to sustain it.

—Alice J. Armstrong

Introduction to A Matter of Blood: A History of the First Conclave

Chapter 1

“Can you see who they are?”

Jamie McCullough squinted against the bright April sky, her eyes following Councilor Amos Parks’s pointing finger. “They’re on horseback,” she said to her godfather. “They must be—”

“The Riders,” Senator Greg Cahill said, talking over her. “It’s about time they showed up here.”

Here, Jamie thought. Far from the southern border of the San Francisco Enclave, even beyond the Zone that marked the no-man’s-land between Opir Citadel and human territories.

But people did live in this land, where wild cattle grazed among the pre-War ruins, alongside deer and pronghorn antelope. Small colonies, well-fortified, with mixed human and Opir residents; pure human settlements, always ready to defend themselves against raiders both human and nonhuman. And human and Opiri who stayed on the move, hostile like the Freeblood raiders or unaligned like the Wanderers.

Then there were the Riders. Skilled fighters, neutral in their loyalties, always half-bloods and always male. They were the men who rode fearlessly across the West in their tight-knit bands, carrying messages and escorting travelers and colonists through the dangers of the wilderness, facing down rogues, raiders and wild tribesmen. Both humans and Opiri hired them, sometimes even to communicate with one another.