Chapter One

Loraine "Raine" Warren sat at a booth in the Vortex Club with her three best friends, Claire Summers, Macy Daniels, and Annette Mill. Raine herself wore a sequin blue dress, dark blue high heels with sharp, sharp heels. She looked hot, if she did say so herself. Claire wore an emerald green dress that matched the color of her eyes, and had black high heels. Macy wore a red dress with black heels also. It complimented the dark color of her eyes. Annette wore a slim black dress with black heels. She looked like she was searching for a man to warm her bed tonight, which knowing her, she was.

Raine leaned against the booth staring at her four friends. Claire and Macy sat opposite of her and Annette sat beside her. They were chatting non-stop about men, something Raine never got the chance to even think about with her father, the Vampire King, so protective over her. The only reason she was even here tonight at VC was because she'd snuck out. Being a princess was a terrible thing, especially with a father like Walter Warren. The only cure for her imprisonment was to break out every once in a while. Yes, afterwards she'd have to listen to a screaming lecture from her father, but it was worth it to have a little fun. Rules were meant to be broken in her opinion.

Suddenly her bladder gave a bump. Great, she had to go to the bathroom. She slid out of the booth. "Sorry, girls, I got to use the ladies room. I'll be right back."

"Take your time," Claire said. "You're not much fun tonight anyways. You know, it is possible to have fun. The VK doesn't have to suck out your zest for life." Claire liked to speak her mind, even if it wasn't very wise sometimes. It never stopped her though.

She grinned. "Claire, Dad has not sucked out my zest for life. I'm just not that active tonight. I'll be better next time we sneak out of palace grounds, okay?"

Macy grinned once the words 'sneak out' popped out of her mouth. "Good. I would've died if you didn't want this to happen again. It's practically become tradition to ignore your fathers ridiculous rules. I don't get how he thinks you're going to become the next queen if he keeps you under lock and bars."

"Yes, I know. I love him, but he doesn't have a clue what he wants is affecting how I'll be queen someday," Raine said. Her bladder was putting up a fight and any minute now it was going to win. Why couldn't being a vampire have cool perks, like not having to use the restroom? "I got to go." She left quickly. The bathroom was in the back of the club. It was one bathroom with a lock. Raine didn't like that fact. It would piss her off if someone were already in there. She walked up to the door and twisted the knob. Oh, good. It was unlocked. She swung open the door and froze.

Holy fucking shit.

A man stood there, his thing in his hands over the urinal. When the door opened he looked at her. He had golden eyes. His face was rough, like a dangerous man, his mouth was turned up just the slightest at the corners. Obviously being in this position was amusing to him. He had broad shoulders, his arms looked strong enough to lift a mountain, and he was taller than anyone she'd ever seen. He looked to be around six foot eight, maybe two forty to fifty pounds. He wore faded jeans and a tight black shirt. Both of which showed off his incredible build. He stood there a while more before he finished and shoved himself back into his pants. He stood to face her but made no move. It didn't seem like he was going to leave or say anything anytime soon.

Raine just stood there, frozen in place. How could it be possible for a man to look this good? This was the first man she'd ever met that made her stop and stare, or more like drool, but whatever. The point was he was a sexy man, a man that looked like he was thoroughly enjoying her gawking at him. She vaguely wondered if this happened to him a lot.

When he spoke, his voice was deep, and sent shivers down her back. "Do you usually walk in on men and stare at them while their vulnerable?"

She surprised herself when she said, "You don't look vulnerable." She hadn't even known her mouth could work because of the dryness that had settled there. The easiness with which she spoke to him surprised her too. She'd always been shy around a good-looking man, or at least somewhat good-looking. This was the first truly good-looking man she'd ever seen. Embracing her knewfound non-shyness, she added, "Besides, you should have locked the door. That's why they put locks on them. To avoid situations like these."

He grinned, stealing away all breath in her lungs. "Ah, I see. Well I didn't have time to lock the door. I was in a hurry. My fault, of course, I should've taken the time to lock the door."

"Mhm." She still stood there, frozen in place, burning in her core. Woo. This guy made her hot, something vampires were not. She sniffed the air, to find the smell of him, and stilled instantly once the smell reached her nose. Oh God. Hot guy was a werewolf, something vampires despised. Big no-no. He must have seen her reaction because he frowned, and took a whiff of the air himself.

His body froze, like hers. "Now this isn't something that happens every day," He mumbled. "Werewolf and vampire-girl meet in the bathroom."

"Definitely not an everyday occurrence. I don't know why I didn't smell you before." Raine was angry at herself for having forgotten to check to see what he was in the first place. His looks hadn't given her much thinking room.

He shrugged. "I took away all your thoughts." He grinned. "I do that to a lot of women. Not the first time I've done it to a vampire either."

She snorted. "All werewolf's think they're the best damn thing to walk into anyone's line of sight. I don't think you are, though."

His grin didn't leave his face. "Ah, a wrong opinion. Not all werewolf's, darling. You can't say that I didn't affect you at all either. Hell, I can smell my effect on you. Human or not, the body works in almost the same way." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Werewolves were very, very arrogant and this one proved it.

Raine glared at him. She knew he would have smelled his affect on her, but that didn't mean he had to say it out loud. "Get out, dog. I didn't come here to see you." She stepped into the bathroom with him - her first wrong move – and the door swung closed behind her. The man began walking towards her. She tried to back up, but encountered the wall. He didn't stop though. He came as close to her as possible, which resulted in his body pressed dangerously close to hers. Her heart slammed against her ribs and she felt hot, wet and angry that he could affect her this way. Maybe she was insane. Her father had taught her ever since she was born that vampires should hate werewolves. It was a natural thing, and apparently, everything bad in the world was there because of the werewolves. Raine didn't doubt that the werewolves thought the same about vampires. Why then was this one getting so cozy? Didn't he realize what he was doing wasn't normal?

"You obviously don't know much about the hatred shared between vampires and werewolves, or you wouldn't even be in this position. Tell me, what's your name?" He looked down at her, his eyes smoldering.

"Raine," She whispered. She didn't bother to correct him about how much she knew of the hatred that was supposed to be there between her kind and his, or that he was acting odd too. Her body was feeling more like jelly by the minute. She'd never been in this position before. No one ever dared to do this, for fear that her father would get angry. His body was pressed way too close though. She could feel every hard plane, the muscles that threatened and tempted her to run her hands down his body. It was almost too much for her just to keep her hands to herself. God, what was this werewolf doing to her? She'd never had this problem before.

"Mmm…" He whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her back. "Raine. What a beautiful name for a beautiful vampire. You know that the attraction you have for me is very, very terrible, right?"

She nodded, unable to say any more over the dryness in her mouth and her inability to even move her mouth to form the words. Hell, she couldn't even think the words with him so close. The feel of his shirt pressed against the exposed skin on her collar bone was registered in her mind. Every inch of their skin that touched screamed out at her.

"And yet you are attracted." He feathered a kiss behind her ear. "You really shouldn't be. It's dangerous." He shook his head in her hair and chuckled. "And yet I feel an attraction to you too, my dear little vampire. We're supposed to hate each other to death, but I'm not feeling like hating you. The opposite, in fact."

"Yes, we need to hate each other, are meant to."

"But we don't."

"No."

He sighed and he planted another kiss, but this one at the edge of her jaw. Her skin prickled with awareness. "Especially not someone like me."

She sighed. His kisses felt like heaven, and she wanted more, on her lips, on her body. "What is your name?" It came out breathlessly. The least she could gain out of this weird little attraction she felt was his name. Maybe she and he could… No, that was forbidden. It was shameful to even think about. If her father knew, he would kill every male werewolf he could find.

"Rafael Howell. I'm the alpha of the biggest werewolf pack in the US."

Raine knew what that meant. His pack was the Silverwolf pack. It had hundreds of wolves. It was incredible. They were also very, very powerful. Right now, though, none of that seemed to matter. She wanted him to kiss her, to touch her. It was forbidden to do more, but they could still pleasure in other ways. She turned her head when he went to plant another kiss on her cheek and their lips met. Fire sizzled through her body, so sudden and powerful that she gasped from the effect of it.