by Cynthia Eden
A man’s scream erupted from close by.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to rise. She managed to get to her knees, and she pulled out her gun. She’d save the claws and teeth this time. A bullet would work great.
The leopard was crouched over Derek, with his claws less than an inch away from the man’s throat.
The second agent, Collier Duwane, sprawled on the floor. His eyes were closed.
The leopard’s ears twitched. His claws moved in for the kill.
“No!” Her yell was guttural. She could take the shot, but Derek might still die. Those claws were too close to him.
Shit.
The leopard snarled at her.
Her fingers tightened around the gun. Without the weapon, she was a dead woman. There wouldn’t be enough time to shift before he attacked.
Sully. She needed him.
Her gaze dropped to Derek. His neck was twisted to the side, and he stared at her. Horrified realization filled his eyes.
Do it. He mouthed the words.
But she didn’t pull the trigger. If she pulled it, the leopard’s claws would still rip into Derek. He’d die. And if she dropped her weapon, the leopard would attack her. After he slashed Derek from ear to ear.
He’s going to kill Derek no matter what.
No. No, Derek was on her team. She wasn’t going to let him die. She couldn’t let him—
The leopard roared.
So did Sadie.
Then she fired.
The bullet hit the leopard dead center in his outstretched paw, exploding through muscle and bone, then slamming into the wall just beyond the beast. Derek managed to roll to the side, and he pushed to his feet. Yet just as Derek staggered upright, the leopard rammed into him. The agent’s head hit the wall. Down he went.
Sadie fired again. She hadn’t been able to aim for the leopard’s head or heart with the first bullet, and he was moving too fast now to get a clear shot. Dammit. Only a shot in the head or heart would stop him. So she fired—again and again.
The leopard sprang at her, and the beast within Sadie clawed for her freedom.
***
Sadie.
For a moment, her image swam before Sully. A white-hot lance of pain exploded across his chest. Sully swore he could feel the cold splash of blood.
Then—nothing.
Terror had his heart nearly stopping. The blood link between them had grown so strong that he knew what was happening to her. He was losing Sadie.
Hell, no.
Sully forgot about the elevator and ran for the stairs. Screw the sunlight that was still fighting the night. Sadie needed him.
A ghrá, hold on. Please, hold on. He had to get to Sadie. Had to help her. She was the only thing of value in his world. The only person who mattered.
The only woman he’d ever loved.
Hold on.
***
A red haze filled her vision. Blood. Hers. His. Her leopard was in control of Sadie now, and she was fighting for her life—
And the lives of her two agents.
Pain was constant. The attack from Corey Blaine had been vicious. The prick outweighed her by a good forty pounds in animal form, and he had insanity on his side, always an advantage for a killer.
But she wasn’t powerless. Sadie had her rage and her desperate desire to stay alive fueling her. So she fought him. Every slash of his claws led to an assault from hers. She wasn’t letting him leave this room. He wouldn’t kill again.
His teeth clamped on to her shoulder.
And another growl rumbled from the doorway.
Through the fury, she saw him, coming like an avenging angel—no, more like a pissed-off devil.
Another leopard. Golden fur lined with the dark rosettes of her kind. His mouth opened in a snarl. His teeth glistened with saliva. She recognized his scent immediately, even before she saw his glassy stare.
Kyle.
He launched across the room. His hind legs kicked back to send him soaring. His teeth locked on to Corey, ripped and tore, and the coppery scent of blood deepened.
Sadie took a moment, panting and gathering her strength. This was it. She could feel the approaching kill in the air. No escape. Corey Blaine was about to answer for his crimes.
And when he arrived in hell, she didn’t think the devil was gonna cut him any slack.
Her whiskers quivered as she leaned down in a crouch. She waited for the perfect moment to join the growling, biting blur that was the other two leopards.
Now. She shot forward, teeth and claws ready.
Together, she and Kyle took the killer down, and his furious cries echoed around them until—
Silence.
Then the snap of bones.
Sadie and Kyle slowly eased back. The battle was over. The beaten leopard had shifted. An automatic survival instinct. Corey’s wounds were deep. His choice was either shift or die.
When the transformation was over, Corey flopped naked on the floor. His breath choked out in labored heaves.
Sadie let the white-hot fire of the change sweep over her. Corey wasn’t in any shape to attack now. She had to check on her men and get them an ambulance ASAP. She didn’t care about her nudity. Her clothes had shredded when she’d shifted into the cat. She’d been badly wounded, was still hurt—the shift had far from healed her completely—but thanks to her rush of adrenaline, the injuries barely slowed her down. Kyle was snarling over his brother, so that situation seemed under control. Now her priority was her men. Men who looked like they were stepping too close to the cold door of death.
Derek groaned. He tried to raise his arm, but his hand dropped back to the floor. Sadie scrambled around him. She searched desperately to find the phone she’d lost when she’d shifted. Ambulance. Humans couldn’t survive this kind of assault without help. She had to get an ambulance—
The quiet snick of a gun’s safety release whispered in her ears. She turned, too slowly, and saw that Corey had somehow managed to get a gun. In a split second, she recognized it as Derek’s weapon. She’d seen it fly across the room earlier, then forgotten about it in the snap of teeth and the swipe of claws.
Still in leopard form, Kyle roared and swiped with his claws just as Corey fired at him.
The bullet thudded into Kyle’s body. The leopard fell.
Then, smiling, bleeding, Corey turned the gun on her—
And he fired again.
***
Sully froze just outside the building on Montay. All of the breath left his lungs in a rush, and fire exploded in the middle of his chest. The pain drove him to his knees.
A pain that wasn’t his.
No.
He tried to rise, but fell onto the cement. “Sadie.” She was slipping away from him. He knew it, and the pain seemed to rip his heart apart.
He’d reached her too late.
Tires squealed behind him. Doors slammed.
“Sullivan? Sullivan!” Owen grabbed Sully and jerked him to his feet.
The pain began to fade and an icy numbness took its place. He stared up at the building. It was now covered by the darkness of night.
“Is Sadie here?” Owen demanded. “We can’t get her team to answer us, there’s no contact—”
Owen’s voice was buzzing in his ear.
She was there. He could feel her. But for how long? She was hurt, badly hurt, and he knew the cruel bitch that was fate was trying to steal his Sadie away.
Not going to fucking happen.
Chapter Fifteen
He’d never forget his first sight of that room. The blood. The bodies.
Sadie positioned on the floor like a broken doll. Her lashes still against her too-white cheeks.
He fell to his knees beside her. Touched her face. Slowly, so slowly, her lashes lifted. Her golden eyes were full of so much pain.
“Sh-shot her…”
His head whipped up at the hoarse whisper. Kyle Blaine was pushing himself off the floor. “M-missed my h-heart…” Sully saw the
hole in his chest. Damn, weren’t shifters supposed to heal from—
“B-but he got h-hers…”
The room spun. No, no that wasn’t possible. Sadie hadn’t been shot in the heart. He’d know, he’d—
Hear the rush of her blood spilling out. The broken beat as her heart struggled. The bullet had clipped the side of her heart. Too damaged. It couldn’t work. Weakening.
“B-bastard’s d-dead now….”
Sully didn’t even glance toward the body. He could smell the stench of death.
“B-but he-he got h-her,” Kyle rasped. “S-sorry—”
“The hell he did!” Sully’s arms were tight around her. He wouldn’t look at her chest. No, he didn’t want to see the wound, but he could feel it, as if his own chest had been ripped open. “You’re not goin’ anywhere, Sadie, you hear me?” He was rocking her, back and forth, faster and faster.
Her eyes were open, but she didn’t seem to see him. Her gaze was frozen. Her breath barely seemed to whisper past her pale lips.
How the hell is she even still alive? The question blasted through his mind. Terrified him.
But he knew the answer. His Sadie lived because she had a shifter’s strength. Right then, he thanked the God he’d forgotten two years ago, then Sully whispered a prayer for his forgiveness.
Because he knew what he was going to do.
“A ghrá, stay with me.” His fingers brushed over her neck. His head lowered and his mouth hovered over her throat.
Would she want this life?
An insidious whisper. One that came from deep within. One that he ignored.
His teeth pressed against her skin. The blood flowed faster from her wounds now, but the scent didn’t tempt him.
It scared the hell out of him.
“Sadie…” No more time to waste. Soon, she wouldn’t have any blood left to take.
His teeth pierced her neck. Blood trickled onto his tongue.
Sadie. Please don’t leave me.
“What the hell are you doing, Sullivan?” Owen grabbed him and tried to force Sully to release his hold on Sadie. “That’s not what she wants—”
Sully raised his head. A rumble rolled in his throat. He wasn’t about to let her go. “Fuck off!” His cry erupted as a scream of fury that shook the room. “She’s not dying. She’s too strong. She’s—”
Needed too much. Sadie was needed too much. Loved too much.
He’d just found her again. How was he supposed to live for centuries without her?
No. No, he couldn’t. He was a selfish bastard, and he wanted his Sadie. He wanted her with him. Wanted her smiles and her laughter and—
“She doesn’t want this.” Absolute certainty from Owen. “We can get her to a hospital. They can stitch her up. Fix her until she’s strong enough to heal—”
“She’s got less than a minute left.” Sully’s voice broke. He lifted her. Cradled her as gently as he could. With shaking fingers, Sully pushed her head toward his throat. Her cool lips skimmed over his skin. “I feel her leaving. If she were human, she’d have died when the bullet drove into her.”
He knew Sadie. Pure shifter will had kept her alive. The beast inside fighting a battle to heal. A battle that couldn’t be won.
Too much blood loss.
“You can’t do this!” Owen raged.
Why was Owen getting a conscience?
“Dammit, Sullivan, she doesn’t want—”
“I know what she fuckin’ wants!” He knew…and what he knew tore his guts apart.
Sadie wanted her beast. The leopard within that had been a part of her since birth. The leopard that would die if he turned her. He knew the stories. He’d heard all the legends. A shifter lost the power to transform when she was reborn as a vampire.
That life ended, and a new one began.
“Sadie…” Sully breathed her name as pain gutted him.
Choices.
Piss. This damn life—always about choices.
He wouldn’t take her choice away. His had been taken away. He wouldn’t do the same thing to Sadie. Not his Sadie. Because, yes, he was a selfish bastard…except…when it came down to the very end. With her.
With Sadie…she had to always come first.
But he couldn’t just sit there and let her die.
Fucking hell—don’t leave me! A cry that shook his soul.
“L-live…” Gasped out. Weak.
His eyes widened. He tilted Sadie’s chin back. He stared into the golden eyes that saw him and held agony. “Sadie?”
“L-live…” Sadie managed once again. Her voice little more than a breath.
Sadie Townsend was the strongest woman he’d ever met—and she was a fighter, until death and beyond. She was choosing—him and life, with seconds to spare.
He offered his throat to her, guided her head because she was too weak, and a moment later, Sully felt the sharp sting of her teeth.
Live.
Sadie took his blood…and died.
Chapter Sixteen
Very, very slowly, Sadie opened her eyes. She found herself lying on a soft bed—her bed. The lights were off and darkness cloaked the room. But she could see perfectly.
Her nostrils flared. She caught the scent of flowers. The fabric softener she used on her sheets. The vanilla-scented candle she kept in the living room.
She raised her hand to her chest and found the skin healed.
She’d survived. Part of her had, anyway.
Her fangs were out and the hunger, a great, gnawing hunger for food—no, blood—had her belly clenching.
The bedroom door squeaked open, and her gaze flew across the room to zero in on Sully.
He stared at her, not speaking, and she could see the worry on his face.
Her hands clenched around the sheets.
“Sadie…” He shook his head. “Do you know what happened? Do you know—”
“That I’m a vampire?” Yes, she knew. She remembered everything. Every horrifying moment. She could still feel the twisted thud of her heart. Broken. She’d known death was coming for her, and while she didn’t fear the other side or what waited, she hadn’t wanted to leave.
It had been too soon.
In that moment, when the fog had cleared from her eyes and she’d seen Sully gazing down at her with such fear on his face, she’d known she would have traded anything, everything, she had to stay with him.
Even her beast.
And she had.
“It’s not as bad as you think. You don’t have to kill to live. You can get blood from a hospital.” He swallowed, then added, “You’re not linked to any other vampires, just me. You have no Born Master who can control you. You’ll be as strong as before—you just…have to take it easier during the daytime.” He crossed to her side as the words poured out of him. “You’re still the same, Sadie, you’re—”
“I can’t shift.” Spoken quietly.
His jaw clenched. “No, no, you can’t.”
“But I’m alive.” Some might disagree with that. Screw them. Sadie forced her fingers to ease their death grip, and she reached for him. “I’m alive, and I’m with you.” She’d made her choice.
She’d made it before Corey Blaine had taken aim on her in that room.
She’d decided last night when she’d spooned in bed with Sully, his arms around her. She’d known that she never wanted to leave him. Didn’t matter what he was. Didn’t matter what she was.
Being with him—that was her choice. And she’d been fully aware of the consequences all along.
“How long until you hate this? Me?” His voice was ragged.
Crazy vampire. “Sully, my choice.” Being a vampire might not have been her lifelong dream, but she knew vamps weren’t the heartless killers she’d originally thought. Like humans, like shifters, some were evil.
And some weren’t.
The facts were simple to her. She was still breathing. Sully was with her. As for that bastard Corey…“Tell me you killed that murdering s
hifter.”
Sully shook his head, and her heart sank. No, no, he couldn’t still be out there. He couldn’t—
“Kyle finished him off before I could.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
“Seems Corey made a habit of torturing his brother. Kyle left home when he was sixteen and said he’d hoped to never run across his brother again, but then he caught his scent here one night.”
He’d killed his brother. Talk about a hard choice. But one that had saved lives. Sadie knew Corey had developed a taste for the kill. She’d seen the horrifying truth in his eyes.
“Corey took Su to send a message to Kyle, didn’t he?” she asked.
He nodded. “She was punishment for him. A lure for me.”
But they didn’t have to worry about Corey any longer. One more killer off the streets.
Pity there were always more out there.
“Can I—can I hold you, love?”
She blinked. Her lips parted in surprise at his halting question. “Of course, Sully. Always. You can—”
He was on the bed before she’d finished speaking. His arms wrapped around her even as his lips took hers. Sully kissed her with a feverish passion and a stark intensity.
Her tongue met his. Her arms locked just as fiercely around him…and deep inside, she heard the purr of her leopard.
Sadie froze. What? How?
Sully stiffened against her. “Sadie, no.” His words rumbled against her lips. “Don’t turn away from me. Things can be the same between us. Give your new life a chance. Give me a chance to—”
Her fingers pushed between them. “I am.” His eyes were black. Were hers? Hunger heated her blood, and her teeth had begun to ache.
She wanted to taste him. To bite him. But she could have sworn she’d heard her leopard. Felt her.
That was impossible. All the stories said the transformation killed the beast.
And made room for the vampire.
Her fingers caught the V of his shirt. Yanked and sent buttons flying. The white shirt hung loosely on him, now revealing the delicious lines of his muscled chest.
Her mouth was dry. Need filled her. Desperate desire for his body and his blood.
Sadie rose onto her knees. Her mouth pressed against him. Tasted the sweetness of his skin. She tongued his nipple, and the small nub stiffened with the strokes of her tongue.