by Cynthia Eden
“I was trying to help you! Ungrateful vamp!”
She shrugged. “You should have just let me go to him. He was hurting. He needed me.”
But Leo shook his head. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
She’d gotten her shifter back. That was what she’d done.
“The tranqs were stronger than any I’ve faced before,” Julian said. He didn’t relax his guard for a moment, and he kept his body positioned between her and Leo. “After the last hit, I had to force my panther to the surface. I knew if there was any chance of me staying conscious, the beast had to be fully in control. But even then…it was touch and go. The panther had to claw its way out of me.”
Leo was silent a moment. His face stayed tense and Rose wondered if an explosion was imminent. But then his shoulders relaxed a bit. “You are as strong as Luke always said. Now I see why he made the deal with you.” His gaze slid to Rose. “Though it’s not a deal I appreciate right at this moment.”
“Stop being a baby,” she muttered, annoyed. They had bigger problems to deal with right then.
“A what?” It sounded as if Leo were choking.
Rose barely controlled an eye roll. “It was only a few sips. Not enough to do any serious damage to you.”
“It’s not the damage to me I’m worried about.”
What was that even supposed to mean? “Your blood wasn’t that good, buddy. I get more of a rush with Julian.”
His glower got worse. “I want my angel back,” Leo announced. He pointed at Julian. “You were supposed to get your vamp, and stick to her like glue. Twenty-four, seven, remember? That was the deal. You were supposed to find out the identity of the Collector. You were supposed to find out where he is keeping his prisoners. You were not supposed to leave the vamp’s side so you could get tranqed—”
“Leo, you’re bossy as hell.” And Julian’s fingers threaded with Rose’s. “Come on, love. We’re going to the house so you can get dried off and changed.”
She felt a smile curve her lips. He did that a lot. Took care of her. Sure, he was primitive and scary and beast-like, but he had a different side—a protective side. One that seemed to come out with her.
They headed forward but Leo didn’t get out of their path. She was pretty sure that Julian would move the guy if Leo didn’t get the hint.
Leo kept glaring.
Her skin began to itch. Weird.
“Just so you know…” Julian drawled. “I found out the identity of the Collector. It’s a guy named Simon Lorne. Thought he was a human at first, then I realized he’s the one tossing out compulsions like candy to the mortals. That trigger happy human who pumped me full of tranqs? She was sent out here on his command. Probably because he thought we’d play nice and not hurt her.”
Leo’s face was a dull red. “Because you aren’t supposed to hurt humans!”
Julian seemed to consider the situation. “Maybe she was supposed to be a distraction.” He glanced out at the water, then looked back at Leo. “For all we know, Simon could be preparing to close in for the kill, and I’m not just going to stand on the beach like a welcome wagon for him. I’m getting Rose to the house and…” Now he let Rose go long enough to bound quickly over to the Devil’s Prize and grab an unconscious Marcos from the vessel. He slung the guy over his shoulder and hurried back to Rose’s side. “And I’m making sure my friends are secure. Then I’ll hunt the bastard, just as we agreed. I’ll get your angel back. I’ll get all the paranormals that he’s been keeping.”
With Marcos still over his shoulder, Julian took Rose’s hand and threaded his fingers with hers once more. “And she wasn’t at my side,” he rasped, “because I wanted her safe. Her safety comes first for me. Always. You need to remember that.”
Leo took a lunging step toward him. “And you need to remember that if I don’t get the angel back, you don’t get what you wanted.”
Rose rolled back her shoulders. The odd itch she felt in her skin was getting worse. And she’d started to feel…nauseous. Since when did vamps get nauseous? Well, okay, it happened…but normally only when she was hungry. When she’d gone days without blood.
They headed to the house. As they hurried up the path, they saw Rayce. A now fully awake Rayce. He had the human in his arms. She was still out cold. Good.
They’d deal with her soon enough.
Rayce whistled when he spied Leo. “This day just got even worse, didn’t it?”
Leo grunted back at him.
Their little crew kept trudging to the house—a crew that now included Rayce and the human. Each step…each step became slower for Rose. Harder to take. She felt sluggish and her veins seemed heavy in her body.
Her breath came in pants. And her clothes—even though they were still wet—they felt too hot. Her skin was too hot.
She was too hot. Burning, from the inside.
“Panther.” Leo’s voice was flat with command. “You need to take care of the vampire.”
Julian’s gaze swung toward her. She tried to smile for him but…
Something is wrong with me. Something inside. She could feel it. Her heart was slowing down. Everything was slowing.
Julian put Marcos on the ground. Marcos gave a little snore. Definitely still out.
“Rose?” Concern flashed on Julian’s face. “Rose, what’s wrong?”
She tried to speak, but her throat seized up. She couldn’t even gasp. Her whole body was heavy. She felt as if it were shutting down.
“I told you,” Leo said, but his voice didn’t have a know-it-all tone. Instead, he sounded worried and that scared Rose. “She drank my blood. There will be repercussions.”
She was dizzy. The world spun around Rose. Julian caught her right before she fell.
“Get her inside,” Leo blasted. “Give her your blood. Do whatever the hell you can for her or—”
Is my heart still beating? Rose couldn’t tell.
“Or she could die…and if she does, I don’t think she’ll be coming back.”
Chapter Eleven
“Rose? Love, love, I need you to look at me.” He tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but Julian knew he failed. Shit, he was too terrified to hold his control. Rose was in his arms, and she was burning up. Literally hot to the touch—so hot she was singing him.
She seemed to be burning up, from the inside out, and he was so afraid that he was losing her.
Leo should have fucking said his blood was poison! He dicked around out there while she was dying!
Julian had Rose back in his room, in his shower, and he turned on the water so that it was ice cold. He ripped her wet clothes off her, and he pulled her under that cold spray, desperate to do anything to help her.
Her eyes were open, on him, but the green was weak. Her skin was too pale, but burning hot. She was shuddering, but not making a sound.
She was slipping away from him.
“Drink from me,” he ordered her because that had been one of Leo’s orders. The guy had said she needed Julian’s blood. So he’d give her every last drop if that was what it took. “Drink, love. Drink.”
Her little fangs were out, but she didn’t move her head toward him. Instead, her head sagged forward. No! He drove his fingers into the thickness of her hair and tipped back her head. “You have to drink because you have to live.” The water was freezing, but when it hit her body, steam rose in the air around them. He pushed her head against his neck and her teeth raked over his skin. “Bite me. Do it. Bite.”
Her teeth sank into him.
One of his hands slammed against the tile of the shower wall, knocking it hard enough to leave a dent. His other cradled her head, holding her so carefully. Need—dark lust—snaked through his body as it always did when she took his blood. His dick was rock hard, but he ignored the desire that came from her bite. This wasn’t about sex. This was about her survival. This was about her.
She was everything to him. Had she ever realized it?
She drank. Her mouth mov
ed on his neck, sucking him, licking, taking his blood. His muscles were rock hard. The water kept pouring onto him, but it wasn’t cooling him down. When her mouth was on him, nothing cooled him down.
His fist drove into the wall again.
Stay controlled. Let her take. She needs this.
His fist hit again. He could feel the blood on his knuckles.
And his other hand tenderly cradled her.
She drank.
***
Rayce eyed the bastard who had the balls to actually saunter into the Lord of the Dark’s home. “Luke is going to kick your ass.”
Leo looked up—he finally stopped staring at a non-existent wound on his arm. “Only some of the stories say that is the way things end. Some of them actually say I win the battle.” His lips twisted. “So maybe you need to think carefully before you go choosing sides.”
“I already have chosen. I’m a werewolf. To you, that means I’m an animal who only knows bloodlust and death.”
Leo’s gaze swept over him. “How many people have you killed in your life?”
He wanted to kill someone right then, but he held himself back, barely. Marcos was back in his quarters, sleeping off the tranq, and the human woman—she was on the couch just a few feet away. Still lost to whatever magic Leo had used on her.
“I know what you are…rogue.” Leo’s eyes gleamed. “So perhaps you should have been put down long ago.”
“Perhaps you should have been.” And he’d be happy to do the job. He doubted that Leo was truly as all powerful as the guy wanted folks to think and—
“Don’t you wonder why that one tranq took you out so quickly?” Leo murmured. “I mean, it took three hits for Julian to go down.”
“What? Were you just fucking watching us get attacked?”
Leo pursed his lips. “I think you’re actually nearly as strong as Julian—”
Nearly? That was some insulting shit. “I am just as strong as him.”
“But there was some ingredient in the tranq that impacted you more.” His head tilted to the side. “Aren’t you curious about just what that ingredient is?”
Yeah, he was. Because anything that made him weak…he hated. He’d been weak before, back when he’d been a kid. Been weak and tortured and he would never stand for that pain again.
“Probably had silver laced in it,” Rayce said, rolling back his shoulders. “Those who don’t know shifters well tend to think that we all have the same weaknesses.”
“Yes…they do. But, of course, silver only works on someone like you.”
Wasn’t he the lucky one? Rayce crossed his arms over his chest. “When the Collector found out that Rose had a shifter guarding her, he probably assumed he was facing a werewolf.”
“Werewolves are more common.”
“It was the Collector’s mistake. He didn’t know he was screwing with a panther.” He knew Julian wouldn’t give the guy a chance to make many more mistakes. And since he was thinking about Julian and just how much his buddy loved a good turn at vengeance… “Just what did you do to the vamp?”
“I didn’t do anything. She’s the one who bit me.”
She bit—His eyes widened.
“She already had an…unorthodox creation. Now she has my blood in her.” His gaze slid toward the door. “Maybe she’ll survive.”
Had he just said maybe? Rayce bounded across the room. His hand—with claws now at the ready—flew toward Leo’s throat.
Leo didn’t even flinch.
And the claws stopped less than a centimeter from Leo’s jugular.
“Rose doesn’t die,” Rayce rasped. “Julian has already given too much to keep her in this world. So whatever shit your blood did to her, you fix it.”
“Sounds as if you care about her…”
“Only met her recently. He’s my friend.” Mostly. “So fix her.”
“Some broken things can’t be fixed. I’ve told that to Julian more than once.”
Rayce growled. “She’s not a ‘broken thing’ but you are, asshole. What is your blood doing to her?”
“It’s changing her…maybe it will make her stronger. Maybe it will make her weaker. Maybe it will kill her.” He shrugged and when he moved, his throat pressed to Rayce’s claws. “That’s why I told Julian to give her blood so that it could dilute what she’d taken from me. I am helping. Why is everyone so ungrateful when I do a good thing?”
He thought about cutting off Leo’s head. A fast slice of his claws and—
“It wouldn’t work,” Leo said, as if he’d read Rayce’s mind. “You’d be dead before you even tried.”
Some risks were worth taking…
“I think she’ll live.” Leo’s gaze gleamed. “This time.”
The guy was such a dick.
“But if she bites me again, no one can help her.”
“You threatening the vamp?” Julian would peel Leo’s skin from his body, and Rayce would help him.
“Unfortunately, no, I’m just making a promise.”
***
He should stop her. Julian’s head sagged forward. The water pounded on him, and he felt himself shiver.
Rose was still drinking from him. He wasn’t sure just how long they’d been in the shower. Minutes? Hours? He’d let her feed and feed, and her body wasn’t blazing hot any longer.
But he…he was cold.
He should stop her. Take her out of the shower. Run a towel over her delicate skin. He should…and he would…
In a minute. He’d just give her a little more blood first.
He’d give her everything.
Only fair, wasn’t it? Since he’d taken everything away from her. All in one blink. Gone, gone, gone… “S-sorry,” he stuttered to her. He’d wanted to tell her before. That terrible night when the bullets had torn into her. But there had been no time for apologies. There had been no time for anything but a deal that changed both of their lives. And the damn thing was, even knowing how wrong it had been, he still thought he’d do the exact same thing.
Her tongue licked over his neck. “What for?” Her voice—it was husky and sensual. Not weak at all.
He forced his head to lift. Forced his gaze up. She wasn’t pale any longer. Her eyes were bright. Her lips were red and plump and he knew she wasn’t in danger. She wasn’t going to die.
He pushed away from the wall. She caught his hand—the hand that he’d driven into the tile again and again, sending chunks of marble raining into the shower as he tried to hold back his dark need for her. She lifted his hand to her mouth. Licked the blood away.
His beautiful Rose. She’d chained his beast. She’d never meant to do it. She didn’t even know she had.
His eyes started to close. His body slumped.
“Julian?” Alarm sharpened her voice. “Julian!”
He was going to pass out. Maybe he’d even die. He’d given her all that he had, given so much that his body was dangerously weak now, but Julian had no regrets. She’d survive—survive whatever hell Leo’s blood had put her through. It was a fair exchange, Julian figured, considering what he’d done to her.
“No, no, no! What did I do? What did I do?” She held him tightly. “I took too much…you should have stopped me! Julian, why didn’t you stop me?”
Didn’t she know? Did she truly not understand? He tried to keep his eyes open just a moment longer.
If he was headed to hell, he wanted to take a memory of heaven with him.
“Julian?”
He tried to smile but it was too late.
Chapter Twelve
“Hey, angel…”
Lila was sitting on the floor of her cell. Her wings had wrapped around her body. She was so cold. Her shivers wouldn’t stop.
“What does it feel like…” The muse stood near the bars of her cell. “When he takes your feathers?”
Lila glanced at her wings. “Pain.”
“Yeah, okay, I guessed that…but…what exactly, is the pain like?”
Lila hadn’
t known any pain, not until a few months ago. Now it was all she knew. The first thing she’d ever felt—pain. The thing that would forever mark her now. “For you, I imagine…it would probably be like getting chunks of your skin cut away.”
“Oh, hell.” The witch scrambled toward the bars of her cell. “That bad? But… you don’t make a sound when he takes them.”
No, she didn’t. “Am I…supposed to make a sound?” She rose and moved closer to her own bars so that she could better see the other women.
The witch’s voice gentled as she said, “When it hurts, it’s okay to cry out.”
“No!” The muse made a sharp denial. “Don’t give him the satisfaction, you hear me, angel? You keep that pain inside. You don’t let him hear your pain. Freaks like him get off on that. They like making others hurt.”
She touched her wing. “Is that why he’s doing all of this? Because he…likes pain?”
The muse pressed her forehead to the bars. “No. No, as crazy as this may seem, he believes what he’s doing is for love.”
Lila shook her head. “This is love?”
“It’s not.” The witch’s voice seemed to echo around them. “I know love. Love is good and strong and it doesn’t hurt. It makes you better. It makes everything in your whole world better.”
Now the muse sighed. “Are we going to hear about your husband again?” She was mocking. She often seemed mocking. Not cruel but…not exactly kind.
The witch didn’t speak.
Lila sank down onto the floor once more.
“Because I want to hear about him,” the muse continued quietly. “Tell me again how your Thomas convinced you to marry him. Tell me about him again…so that before I die, I can know that at least someone was happy, once.”
“You aren’t going to die,” the witch told her.
The muse laughed. “What else would he do with us? For his love to come back, you know we have to die.”
They both knew more than she did. They’d been in their cells when she was first brought to the facility. She should question them but…she didn’t want to know if death was all that waited. Not right then. “I’d like to hear more about Thomas,” Lila whispered.