ClaimMe

Claim Me

Calista Fox

Book 4 in the Body Scenes series.

Jane longs for a human’s touch. Being a vampire precludes
her from seeking an elusive fulfillment and ever-burning craving. Then, one
unexpected night, two devastatingly handsome and intensely passionate
shapeshifters imprint on her.

Werewolf alpha Jude isn’t accustomed to sharing a mate, but
what choice does he have when both he and his second, Cray, pick up the
beautiful British vampire’s seductive scent and are innately and physically
drawn to her? What starts out as a sticky situation turns into a touchy-feely
one that results in a scorching-hot three-way love affair. But the wolves are
being hunted by an ousted pack member looking for revenge and they’ve already
suffered one loss—Jude’s former lover.

Suddenly, more than Jane’s heart is on the line—the fate of
her very existence is in the hands of her sexy shifters.

Chapter One

“You’ve taken over my desk, Jane?”

Her head whipped in the direction of the door and Jane Van
Kamp let out a squeal of delight as she sprang to her feet. “Drake, you’re
back!”

He gave her his usual slow, sexy grin as he strolled into
the spacious office above Body Scenes, the nightclub he’d opened last year. It
was one of Manhattan’s most exclusive venues, with a bonus naughty art gallery
showcasing murals painted on naked bodies. The erotic joining of the models
completed the creative and intricately designed pieces.

Over the decades, Jane had been Drake Halston’s assistant in
various capacities, locations and business ventures. But since he’d been in
Mexico on his honeymoon, she’d gladly taken over management of the club, his
latest investment.

Despite how much she enjoyed being in control of the
business while he was away, she was thrilled he’d returned. She rushed across
the room to greet him with an enthusiastic hug.

He chuckled at her exuberance.

She pulled away and composed herself.

“You’ve made yourself quite comfortable in my absence, I
see.” His British accent was a tad subtler than hers and it held a dark
sensuality Jane found alluring.

Too bad Drake was no longer on the market. Not that she’d
wanted everlasting love with him. She’d carried a torch for someone else the
entire fifty years she’d been a vampire, though her lover Sean was long staked
and burned to ash. Being a reclusive immortal ever since had left Jane lonely,
but for some time at least, she’d had Drake, a once-reclusive immortal himself,
to scratch the itch when need be.

No more
.

Feeling the familiar void deep within her, she had to admit
the sexual disconnect from Drake saddened her. Despite her recent intimate
detachment from him, however, she was genuinely happy he’d found true love.
He’d married the human object of his desire months ago, which meant both he and
Shana, his new wife, were off limits.

Doubly
unfortunate, really, given the very wicked
night the three of them had shared before Drake had marked his territory with
Shana. Now Jane was resigned to throwing herself into her work in order to keep
her mind from the one thing she’d discovered she wanted most when she and Shana
had pleasured each other in front of Drake. A human’s touch.

Pushing that disconcerting thought aside, she focused
instead on business. “I have a better view of the security monitor from your
desk than from mine.” She pointed to the large flat-panel screen mounted over
the fireplace in the living room setting of Drake’s massive office. In a
teasing tone, she added, “I promise I didn’t prop my feet on your desk or smoke
your cigars while you were away.”

“You’d be entitled,” he told her. “I can’t thank you enough
for holding down the fort while I was in the Rivieria Maya with Shana.”

“I wondered if the two of you would ever come back to
Manhattan.”

“We considered staying awhile longer. She can do her work
from anywhere with her Internet hotspot. But she missed you, Yvette and Finn
terribly.”

Finn Griffith was the renowned artist who’d given Drake the
idea for the gallery portion of the club. His girlfriend, Yvette Samson, was a
trendy writer and blogger. They’d become good acquaintances of both Drake and
Jane.

“Mm, you came back so
Shana
could be with her
friends,” Jane said, a tinge of amusement still in her voice. “How thoughtful
of you.”

“All right, fine.” A dark brow lifted. “
I
missed you
terribly too.”

“That’s better.” She turned back to the desk, wandering over
to it as she continued. “You’ll also be pleased to know I didn’t spy on the
models while they were placing themselves for the murals.”

Another low chuckle from Drake filled the otherwise quiet
room. “And what about afterward?”

She tried to feign innocence with a look over her shoulder,
but was sure she didn’t succeed in pulling it off. He knew her too well.

“Jane. I have rules for a reason.”

“Well, I didn’t spy on
all
of them.” Sometimes it was
erotically stirring to watch the various couples and multiple partners get it
on after the curtain dropped on their murals and they were all tangled together
in seductive ways behind closed doors. Sometimes, however, it pained her. Those
were the nights when she sat alone in the dark, watching humans enjoy each
other’s bodies and heat, while she longed for a soft, sensual touch.

But as much as Jane desired the warmth and suppleness of a
human’s body pressed to hers, she didn’t seek it out. She lived in fear of
hurting anyone. She’d never tasted even a drop of human blood, nor did she want
to. She controlled her primal urges by keeping her distance, though her
self-discipline had certainly been put to the test that night with Shana. Their
unexpected threesome had generated a very dangerous scenario in the end, when a
few drops of Shana’s blood had touched Jane’s skin after Drake had made love to
the virgin.

Those few terrifying moments of apprehension as her respect
for the human race warred with her vampire hunger had been the final
defining
moments for Jane. She hadn’t gone for Shana’s jugular and she knew Drake would
have quickly intervened if she’d made a move toward Shana’s throat, but still.
She had to accept her fate as a vampire. She simply didn’t trust herself around
humans and didn’t want to be tempted by them. The very reason she hid out in
this ginormous office, all alone. She didn’t even dare spend time with Finn and
Yvette when Drake wasn’t around, because they were mortals. And she conducted
the vast majority of the club’s business via the phone or email or text. The
less human contact, the better, was her motto.

That, of course, made Drake and Shana’s return all the more
welcomed. She’d missed them as much as they had her and some of her
lonesomeness slipped away at the sight of Drake.

Prompting her to ask, “Will you be staying long?”

“That depends on how much you want to continue running Body
Scenes in my stead.” He joined her at the long, glass-top desk and crossed his
arms over his wide chest.

She bit back the sigh of longing he so easily evoked. Drake
was too handsome for words, all tall, dark and dreamy. And so very talented
with his hands and mouth. Not to mention the imaginative ways he liked to make
love. She couldn’t deny she missed feeling his hard, thick cock inside her,
taking her to dizzying heights before she cried out his name as she came. Over
and over.

Were she not a vampire, she never could have withstood his
aggressive nature—what a damn shame that would have been, to have missed out on
their steamy trysts. He was a powerhouse of a man at six-foot-four and had a
strong, muscular build. She was a five-foot-three-inch waif with delicate
features, blonde hair and pale green eyes, a vast contrast to his smoldering
dark looks. She’d been fragile as a twenty-four-year-old mortal, but her
strength as a vampire almost rivaled Drake’s, making them a very passionate
couple on the rare occasions they’d gotten together.

Yet he and Shana were even more explosive together, as she’d
witnessed the night of their threesome. Jane had suspected all along that Drake
and Shana would singe the sheets when they finally made love. In fact, she’d
stopped initiating sex with Drake after she’d discovered his secret obsession
with Shana, long before either of them had even met the
international-musician-turned-Internet-journalist in person. Therefore, their
threesome had been a very unexpected, yet delightful, occurrence.

Jane adored Drake’s new wife as much as she admired and
respected Drake himself, so it hadn’t been easy to step out of the romantic
picture. But her friendship with both of them salved the sting a bit.
Unfortunately, she now felt a twinge of regret that the two of them were
considering moving on or traveling again. Thank God she had the club to occupy
her time. And, admittedly, she was ecstatic over the opportunity to keep
managing Body Scenes—even if it had become a lonely and somewhat solitary
venture.

She’d never share that latter part with Drake, of course.
She wouldn’t risk his guilty conscience holding him back, keeping him here when
he should be out exploring the world with the love of his life. Seeing things
through Shana’s eyes had to be refreshing after two centuries of being a
vampire. She envied them both, but lived with her personal lot in life.

She told him, “I’m perfectly happy to maintain this arrangement.
I love researching A-listers to invite and, of course, their ploys and bribes
to try to get us to issue an invitation are amusing. I like mixing and matching
the crowd. It’s quite entertaining.”

He stared at her a moment before asking, “And you’re hiding
up here, watching on the screen from different camera angles what goes on down
there?”

She shrugged. “I’m more comfortable with voyeurism. I just
don’t trust myself in a roomful of mortals, you know that.”

“But, Jane. You’ve never hurt anyone. Not even Shana, when
you were faced with the ultimate test of your restraint.”

Turning away, she said, “That’s just how I feel, Drake.”

“I don’t like how reclusive you’ve become.” His tone was
compassionate and contemplative. “Are you sure your fear is warranted? Or are
you afraid you might actually meet someone if you go downstairs? Does this have
anything to do with Sean?”

Not a topic of discussion she liked to have. It was
certainly one she’d kept to herself until she’d met Shana and had felt
compelled to tell her she’d once had a great love, but then she’d lost him. It
had been therapeutic to say her vulnerability aloud and Jane’s admission had
helped Shana to face her own insecurities. Drake had overheard the exchange, so
now he knew about Jane’s past. Well, some of it. There was much more to her
story, but she’d never been able to talk about what had happened just months
after she’d begged Sean to turn her and make her immortal so they could spend
the rest of eternity together.

Being separated from her soul mate was the equivalent of
having her heart ripped from her chest. She couldn’t stand to suffer that pain
and misery ever again. So, yes. She hid up here.

Naturally, Drake was too intuitive not to dig a little
deeper and see her distress was more than just anxiety over hurting a human.
She didn’t want to get hurt herself, plain and simple. Not the way she’d been
hurt—no,
destroyed
—when Sean had been murdered.

Glancing at Drake over her shoulder again, taking in his
dark, commanding presence, she said, “You don’t have to read me so well, you
know? I’d like to maintain
some
semblance of dignity.”

He let out a long sigh. “I’m not trying to damage your pride
in any way. You know me better than that. What I’m saying is, I don’t
understand why you’re so afraid. I’ve made it work with Shana, you can see
that. She’s human.”

“But that will change. She wants to be a vampire and you
agreed to make her one. So you really don’t have to keep yourself in check much
longer. Or if you do accidentally slip and bite her… No biggie as long as you
stop before her heart does. Which you will. You’re much too level-headed to
screw this up.” Forcing a lighter tone, though the previous subject matter had
made her tense, she quipped, “And as soon as she’s immortal, I’m sure your love
life will kick up a notch or two.”

His grin was downright wicked. “Not that it really needs
kicking up a notch. She is…
Hmm
.” He looked positively devilish as he
said, “Inventive. And more than willing to experiment.”

Jane groaned. “Thanks for rubbing it in.” She’d very much
enjoyed Shana’s adventurous side during their ultra-steamy menage. But she
wasn’t so sure she possessed the willpower Drake did.

Not one to dwell on things that could never be—or torture
herself more with the memories of that wild, yet beautifully sensual
evening—she was about to continue their business discussion when a distinctly
disturbing scent wafted under her nose. It wasn’t unpleasant by any means,
just…not welcomed at the club, where there was a building full of humans
milling about.

“What the…?” She turned back to the monitor just as Drake’s
attention snapped to the screen, where the security guards were meticulously
following all of his various procedures before letting a small group of
Broadway starlets pass.

“Smells like a shifter,” he muttered.

She wasn’t overly familiar with the aroma, but she’d caught
the scent a time or two over the past five decades.

“Werewolf,” Drake added. “Two of them.”

“At Body Scenes?” she scoffed, though she sensed he was
right. Still, she argued, “That’s impossible. I was extremely diligent with the
invitations. I couldn’t possibly have let two shifters slip through the
cracks.”

“If they’re as careful as we are about keeping their
identities a secret, you wouldn’t have known they were shifters. Although…” He
reached for the phone on the desk that started to ring while still saying to
her, “Something tells me they don’t have invitations.” Drake handed her the
receiver. “You’re in charge.”

She beamed at his confidence in her, despite the sticky
situation that had suddenly cropped up.

“This is Jane.”

On the other end of the line, Michael Toliver, head of
security at the club, said, “I’m sorry to disturb you, Miss Van Kamp. We have
two gentlemen downstairs without invitations. They’re here to see you.”

Shock rocketed through her. “
Me
? Whatever for?”

“They say it’s a personal matter.”

That prickled Jane’s nerves. The werewolves must have caught
her scent and realized she was a vampire. But what did they want with her?

She spared a glance at the monitor just as one very strong
profile came into view above Toliver’s shoulder, because the uninvited guest
towered over the chief of security.