by Cynthia Eden
The one man who could help her.
Thain stiffened in her arms. His whole body felt rock-hard. She glanced up and stared into eyes that were too bright.
Slowly, his arms closed around her. His head lowered toward hers.
She actually thought her hero might kiss her. Even wilder, in that instant, she wanted him to put his mouth on hers.
Sensual and cruel…how would he kiss?
But Thain pulled back. He took her hand and led her through the alley and to a motorcycle that waited in the shadows. He climbed onto the back of the bike and glanced over at her. “If you come with me, there’ll be no going back.”
Allison slid on the bike behind him. Her thighs hugged his even as her arms curled around him. “I have nothing to go back to.”
Only death. But Thain…he offered her life.
The motorcycle’s engine snarled, and they raced forward into the darkness.
***
Elsa LaSpene crept slowly through the night. She didn’t head into the bar. No point. Her prey would be long gone by now.
She closed her eyes and inhaled. The sweet scent of blood had her smiling.
Fresh blood.
She slid deeper into the alley. There. Against the wall. The dark stain of blood could be seen in the moonlight. Her fingers lifted and touched that perfect wetness.
So fresh.
The little pureblood hadn’t lasted long. Not long at all. Not once the wolf had gotten his hands on her.
He’d taken Allison from the alley, just as he’d promised. Taken her, but blood had already been spilled.
The wolf had started his fun early.
“You’d better make it hurt,” Elsa whispered as she tilted her head back and gazed up at the moon. “Make it hurt.”
Chapter Two
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Cade drove the motorcycle deep into the forest. Allison held on tight behind him. Her body was soft, warm.
Human.
That witch had lied to him. Set him up. Dammit. He hadn’t signed on for killing a human.
Not one that smelled like roses and looked like the sweetest sin he’d ever seen.
Not her.
The motorcycle roared as he pushed it faster. Faster.
Soon the trees thinned, and he saw the stark outline of his cabin. Small, but made with heavy wood that could stand against the rough winters, he’d thought the cabin would be the perfect place to hold the vampire.
To kill her?
His fingers clenched around the handlebars. Cade shut of the motorcycle and shoved down the kickstand. He didn’t speak at first because the rage choked back any words that he wanted to speak.
“Thanks for getting us out of there,” she said, and, hell, even her voice was sexy. Smooth and soft, with a slightly husky edge that made him think of tangled sheets and warm flesh. “Thain, I—”
He turned toward her. “Cade.”
She blinked her wide, fuck-me bedroom eyes at him. “What?”
His enhanced vision let him see her perfectly in the dark. So he could easily read her confusion. “The name’s Cade. Cade Thain.”
And why was he even talking to her? She should have been dead by now.
But…
But he was rising off the bike, taking her arm and leading her toward the cabin like they were on some kind of damn date. And she came right with him. Her steps double-timed it to keep up with his, and her long, dark hair brushed his arm as they walked.
Lamb to the slaughter.
He shoved open the door. She slipped right over the threshold, never even hesitating. Just blindly walking in. Trusting him.
That trust pissed him off.
Slamming the door behind him, Cade pounced. In less than a second’s time, he had her body pinned to the nearest wall. He had his hands on her—damn, she’s soft—and his fangs were ready to rip and tear.
Only…he wasn’t ripping anything.
She gazed up at him. The light from the hallway spilled onto them, and he saw the faint ring of gold that circled her pupils. That gold around her eyes was one sign that marked her as a vampire pureblood.
He caught her left hand. Yanked it up.
“Cade!” Allison yelped. “What are you—”
The mark was there. A blood-red rose, nestled in her palm. A real particular birthmark.
Pureblood.
Fuck.
“You’re not human,” he told her. Unfortunate—for her.
Her eyes widened even more. “Uh, yes, I am.” She jerked against his hold. He just lifted a brow and kept right on holding her.
“Who sent you to that bar tonight?” Cade asked her, but he already knew the answer.
“The same witch you sent you.” Allison huffed out a breath. “M-my friend, Elsa. She told me you would be there—that you’d guide me to safety and—”
He started laughing. “You don’t have any clue, do you?” No wonder the witch had been so certain.
Allison stared up at him, the long tangle of her hair sliding over her shoulders. Her skin was pale—so pale, just like that of most vamps, but her body was warm. She was small and curved just the way he normally liked women to be—with pert breasts, flaring hips, and an ass that could make a man beg.
And her face…beautiful. Not that he’d had a whole lot of beauty in his life, but he knew it when he saw it.
He saw it then in the high sweep of her cheekbones. The soft slide of her nose. The heavy lashes that covered her eyes—and in the delicate chin that angled up in the air.
Allison Gray was a beautiful woman.
A beautiful, soon-to-be dead woman.
Hell. He could feel Allison’s heart racing against him. She was afraid again. That should have been a good thing.
Why did her fear piss him off? It angered him just as much as her blind trust. The scent of her growing fear seemed to burn his nose.
“Vampires are chasing me,” she told him. He’d pushed her hands back against the wooden wall. “That guy in the alley—he’s been after me for months.”
Yeah, Cade bet he had.
“They want me dead.”
Undead.
“Elsa said you’d help me.” Her lips trembled. Wide, full lips. Flushed dark red. Plump. Those lips were so close to his.
The beast within began to snarl. “She lied.” Blunt. Brutal.
Best to go ahead and tell her. Best for her to know…
Her tongue swiped out and licked a slick trail over her bottom lip. “Wh-what?”
Take. The beast inside roared. Cade brought his mouth closer to hers. What would it hurt? Just one little taste…
Her eyes were so very blue as they stared up at his. Not cold like the witch’s had been, but filled with a tangle of emotion.
Her lashes began to lower.
His lips pressed lightly over hers. Allison didn’t fight. Didn’t try to turn her head away.
Her breath whispered out, and he pulled that soft gasp into his own lungs, taking her taste with that breath.
Sweet.
He’d take more.
He kissed her again. Harder. Deeper. Her lips parted and…and she let him in. His tongue thrust past her lips and into the warm cavern of her mouth. His body pushed against hers, so close he could feel the tight tips of her nipples and the wild beat of her heart.
Innocence and sin. One woman shouldn’t taste like both.
She did.
Allison met him, kissing him with a wild, hot need as a moan built in her throat. Kissing him…because the woman thought she was safe with him.
That he was some promised protector.
His claws began to stretch.
He let his fangs rake over her lower lip.
Allison froze in his arms.
Time for her to understand exactly what was happening. Cade lifted his head. Gazed into her eyes. “I’m not here to keep you safe.” His words were growled, the snarl of a beast.
Her gaze slid from his, searching the darkness of the cabin that w
aited to the left, then to the right.
“No one followed us out here.” She’d come so willingly. She could have screamed back at that bar. Asked for help. Begged for help.
Maybe Griggs would have fought for her.
Perhaps some other dumb asshole would have played white knight.
Slowly, he released her wrists, but he didn’t step back. “There’s no one to hear you scream out here, sweetheart.”
Allison flinched. “Wh-why would I scream?”
He brought up his hand and let his claws slide down her cheek. She needed to stop seeing him as some kind of damn hero and see him for what he really was.
“Your Elsa didn’t send you to me for protection.” He paused. Watched because he knew the horror would come. “She paid me to kill you.”
And since Allison looked so incredibly delicate, so innocent and human, he wasn’t expecting the blade of her knife to shove into his chest.
He glanced down, stunned, and realized that when they’d been in that alley, she’d stopped to retrieve her weapon. He’d been fighting the vamp, and she—
His blood dripped down his chest, and Allison shoved him back with very un-human strength. He flew back and crashed into the opposite wall. She gazed at him with desperate eyes, stunned, scared, then she rushed for the door.
The screen door slammed behind her as she fled into the night.
Taking his time, Cade rose to his feet. The knife had missed his heart by a good three inches. And it wasn’t even silver.
Amateur hour.
He yanked out the blade. Stared at the bloody metal, then broke it with his tightened fist.
She was running from him now. Running fast into that dark night. Pity. She wouldn’t realize just how much he enjoyed the hunt.
The beast always liked to chase prey.
Cade let the change sweep over him, brutal, hard, as his bones popped and broke, reshaped and elongated. Fur sprang along his skin, and when he opened his mouth to cry out to her, a howl filled the night.
Time to hunt.
***
When Allison heard the long, angry howl, she glanced back even though all her instincts screamed…Keep going. Hurry.
Her savior was her executioner. Allison stumbled away, plunging for the thick shelter of the trees. If she’d known how to hot-wire the motorcycle she would have jumped on it and fled, but, dammit, she didn’t have that skill set.
Her side heaved as she raced through the woods. Her legs burned, but she pushed herself as fast as she could go. There was no safe place for her anymore. No one to trust. Even Elsa had sold her out.
Elsa…the woman who’d come to Allison when she’d stood, crying, over her parents graves in that cold cemetery. Elsa had promised friendship.
But tried to give death.
Lying witch.
Another howl shook the night and she whipped around, following that sound.
Oh, hell. A big, black beast of a wolf charged after her. Too big, freaking huge. And he was running too swiftly.
She lurched to the right, tripped over a fallen log, and hurtled down the hill, spinning again and again and slamming into the earth with each painful turn.
When her body finally stopped hurtling, she was face-down on the ground. Every part of her hurt and…
“Allison.”
Her head jerked up. Elsa stood there. Lying, scheming Elsa. Smiling.
“Guess the werewolf has already started his fun…”
Werewolf. Then she heard it—the thunder of the wolf’s approach as he raced down after her.
“He’s going to rip you apart.” Elsa stood near two twisted, gnarled trees. “And I can’t wait to watch.”
Allison made it to her feet. Nothing felt too broken. Maybe. But she was trapped between a witch and a wolf. A freaking werewolf. She’d heard plenty of stories about the werewolves. Dangerous, more animals than men. And she had to fight one of those beasts? Without a weapon? “You were supposed to help me!” Screw this. She wasn’t standing around to—
Elsa lunged at her. Grabbed her and held on tight. Elsa’s nails sliced into Allison’s arms. “You think you’ll take my power? My life? You won’t,” she gritted, spittle flying. “You won’t take a damn thing from me.” Her nails dug deeper. “But I’ll take everything that you are.”
The wolf snarled, and Allison actually felt the hot stir of his breath behind her.
Elsa twisted her around and shoved Allison back toward the wolf. “Rip the vamp’s throat out.”
“I’m not a vampire!” Couldn’t the chick see that?
And could the wolf even understand her now?
Her breath heaved as she stared at him—at green eyes she’d never be able to forget. No wonder Cade’s teeth had looked so sharp. His teeth, his claws…
All the better to freaking kill me with.
“Rip her apart!” Elsa shouted the words with feverish excitement. “Rip. Her. Apart.”
Allison didn’t move.
The wolf stalked closer. She’d stabbed him. Shoved him—and the guy had hurtled pretty far when she’d hit him back at the cabin. Maybe she could hold him off. Hold them both off, just long enough to—
The wolf leapt forward.
Allison screamed. She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t brave and super kick ass, and she didn’t want to die, she didn’t want—
The wolf pushed her behind his body and faced off against the witch. He’d shoved her back with his powerful paws, and Allison found herself on the ground again.
The wolf was so big that she could barely see around him, and she rose quickly to her knees in order to get a better view.
The witch wasn’t smiling any longer. “What in the hell are you doing?” Elsa screeched.
The wolf glanced back at Allison. His green eyes—glowing, so wild—seemed to see right through her.
Bones began to snap then. To break, to crunch. The sounds were horrific, and Allison wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t.
Watch him. Her legs trembled as she stood.
Fur melted from the wolf’s body. Golden flesh and toned muscles appeared. Naked male. Powerful. Primal.
He rose to his feet, still making sure to keep his body between her and the witch.
“She’s not a vampire yet.” His voice was rougher, harder than before.
Allison bit her lip to keep from speaking. He knew about her infection?
“It doesn’t fucking matter!” Elsa snapped back at him. “Kill her!”
Two against one. Bad odds. Especially when one of those two was a werewolf.
Her mouth had gone desert dry. Her nails dug into her palms, and her body locked as she waited for Cade’s next move.
He spared her a glittering glance over his shoulder. Please. She didn’t speak the word, but she sure thought it and knew the plea had to be reflected in her eyes. Don’t kill me.
Did his head incline? Did she imagine it?
“Kill her!” Elsa yelled.
“No.” Cade’s response. Low but fierce.
And Allison didn’t know who was more shocked.
The wind began to whip around them in heavy bursts that caught Allison’s hair and lifted it into the air.
“I paid you!” Elsa thundered at him. “We had a deal.”
“You paid me to kill a vampire.” The guy was naked and still damn dangerous. “Right now, she’s just a lost human.”
She was a scared-as-hell human who had a bit of hope stirring in her chest.
When she craned her neck, Allison caught sight of the red-faced witch. “She’ll change!” Elsa’s hands were fisted on her hips. “Just a few more days, and she’ll be—”
“Then I’ll see about killing her,” he said with a shrug.
And that simply, her hope faded.
Elsa lunged forward, coming at Allison with a scream. But Cade caught her and tossed her back. “You’re not touching her,” he growled.
Allison shivered at the threat lacing those words.
“If you wo
n’t do it—” Elsa began.
Now Cade was the one to laugh. “You can’t kill her. If you could’ve done the job, you never would have come crawling to me.”
Uh, why couldn’t the witch kill her?
“So get the fuck out of here, witch, and I damn well better not see you again.” He lifted his hand, and claws had broken through his fingertips. “If I do, you may just be the one to die.”
Allison backed up a step and a stick snapped beneath her feet. But the wolf and the witch didn’t glance her way.
“You’ll pay for this,” Elsa promised.
Cade just shrugged again, clearly not worried. What did it take to worry a werewolf? Not threats from a witch, obviously…
“She’ll turn on you. The minute the hunger strikes her, she’ll feed on you…just like the others.” A heavy pause. “But maybe you like that. Maybe you like just being fucking food for the vamps!”
Elsa yanked away from him, chest heaving. “You’ve made the wrong enemy.” Her blond hair rose in the thrashing wind. “Soon enough, you’ll both die.”
The wind whipped in an even wilder frenzy. Allison struggled to stand and—
And Cade had her. He pulled her tight against his chest as the wind seemed to scream and rake her flesh. He held her close, his warm body a solid anchor against the fury.
Then, in the next instant, there was only—
Silence.
His fingers curled around her chin and forced her head up. Allison stared into his eyes, not knowing what to say. Because the werewolf she was looking at just might be her savior…or he could be her worst nightmare.
Chapter Three
“You’re…not going to kill me?” Allison asked softly from her position in front of the fireplace.
Cade buttoned the jeans he’d donned and headed toward her. Her scent pulled him in—no one should smell like that.
Good enough to fucking eat.
Her gaze darted to his face, then dropped to his chest. Her lips parted when she saw his scars.
He’d be willing to bet she didn’t have a single scar on that soft, silken body.
She glanced away, too fast, and his jaw locked. The woman had better start getting used to the way he looked. If she wanted to keep living, he was her only shot at survival.