by L. J. Red
His gaze had struck through her, like he had seen into her very soul and ignited it with a fiery passion. Desire rushed down her nerves, electrifying every inch of her skin. Her heart, which hadn’t beaten since she was turned, was suddenly thumping hard in her chest.
Max tightened his cruel grip on her arm, his claws digging in deep, but she barely felt the pain. Her cheek, her lip, was still tingling from the stranger’s whisper-soft brush across her lips. She licked her bottom lip, dragging it into her mouth, catching it between her teeth. A shiver of arousal drew a line directly through her body to her hot core. A deep clench between her legs.
Oh God, she was trembling with desire, drenched with it. What the hell was happening to her? Who was this man? Why was she having such an outrageous reaction to him? She had never felt desire like this. Not for anyone, certainly not for her so-called boyfriend.
It was indescribable. The strength of it terrified her.
She had barely paid any attention to what Max had said to the stranger; in fact, she’d barely heard Max’s voice over the resonating growl of the stranger’s question. Was she one of them? One of who? A Ravager? No. She wanted to tell him, no, no. Never. But it was too late. Max gave her one last painful tug and pulled her out of the club, into the alleyway, the doors swinging shut behind her, cutting off her sight of the stranger. For a moment, it felt as if she had been plunged into darkness. Like all the light in the world had gone out the moment her eyes left him.
She struggled, needing to get back to the stranger, but Max gripped her tighter. Despair rocked through her. She couldn’t escape Max’s grip, she couldn’t protect her sister, who, as a human, had no chance at all to break free. And yet, for some reason, Eden found herself haunted even more by the closed and shuttered expression of the stranger she’d left in the hallway. Why had he turned away from her? And why had she felt like her heart was tearing in two when he did?
“Move!” Max snarled, his claws biting so deep into her flesh that the pain finally penetrated her haze and she screamed out loud. Sensation shuddered through her, a ripple of rage not her own, and the doors to Bloodchase exploded open with a shattering crash. The stranger stood in the doorway for one second, the white of his shirt mirrored in the white of his fangs and the unholy light coming from his eyes.
Eden only had a moment to recognize him as a vampire before he moved, like liquid smoke, appearing suddenly beside them and slamming bodily into Max, tearing him away from her, this time with far more violence than before, not merely throwing him into the wall, but launching him against it and following him close behind. His hands flashed once, twice at Max’s throat and Eden raised her hands to her mouth in horror as the stranger tore through Max’s body. A shudder of shock ran through her at the pure violence of his actions. He moved like a shadow through the night, every step a perfect, deadly dance. The grace and brutal violence held in his body as he attacked Max was both magnetic and terrifying. There was no restraint, just pure, wild rage. Blood flew into the air and cascaded from Max’s wounds. He never had a chance to fight back as the stranger ripped him apart. Eden stumbled back, clinging to Hope as blood thickened the air, until finally the stranger dug his hand deep into Max’s chest cavity, ribs gleaming white through the viscera, and then he pulled out something pulsing red. Max’s heart, Eden realized with thunderous shock. The stranger squeezed it between his fingers, and as Eden watched, the blood turned to ash and crumbled down onto the rapidly decaying skeleton beneath him. He’d killed him. He’d torn through Max in a matter of seconds, and now he was dead. She stared, paralyzed with horror at the sheer brutality.
The man stood for a moment, his back to her, heaving great lungfuls of air, and then he turned toward her and Hope. Eden shoved Hope behind her, her eyes wide, heart thumping in her chest. His white shirt was painted red with blood, his fingers dripping with it, and there was a terrifying depth of wildness in his gaze. Trembling, she pushed Hope back further and planted her feet, blocking her sister with her body. She wouldn’t let him come anywhere near her sister, even if it meant sacrificing herself.
The connection she had thought she felt between them, the moment of desire and arousal, must have been a mistake, an adrenaline rush she’d mistaken for something else. It didn’t matter how beautiful he was, or how his dark and deadly dance had made her shiver with arousal and fear intertwined. He was a vampire, and she hated vampires. The reaction her body had to him was meaningless. She wouldn’t let another savage vampire into her life. She would rather die.
Chapter 4
Talon froze, halting his advance toward his soulmate. Her stance was squared off, her eyes determined. She was ready to fight him, and the sight shocked him off the edge of madness. She was afraid of him. She thought he would hurt her, and a shattering wave of self-disgust rocked through him. He shifted his feet, rubbing his fingers together, his skin tacky with blood. No wonder she was afraid. He had just torn a man apart before her very eyes. Talon stood paralyzed with indecision. He wanted to reassure her, to promise her that the violence he had unleashed upon the dead Ravager was not and would never be directed at her or to the young woman she so fiercely stood before. He wanted to swear to her that his rage would only ever be aimed at those who sought to hurt her. Then he remembered again that she was his enemy. She was a vampire from Bloodline Radiance.
Talon took a step back. The bond forming between them had to be wrong. But he could not deny it existed, not after the rage that had torn through him at the sound of her scream. He had felt the pulse of her fear through their fragile, new bond from inside in the hallway. He had known she was in pain and terror. He hadn’t hesitated, not a second of thought between the moment he sensed her need and his violent response. He didn’t even remember crossing the hallway or throwing open the doors. Just the flash, imprinted on his memory, the sight of the Ravager hurting her, and he’d had no choice but to unleash his rage upon her attacker.
It was undeniable. Talon had found his soulmate.
“Don’t come near me,” she said, her voice trembling, but her gaze firm.
He hated the sound of the shake in her voice that his own violence had put there. He wished he could go back in time and redo this moment, but he knew it would not have changed anything. The moment he saw the Ravager hurting her, the man’s fate had been sealed. He was always going to die at Talon’s hand.
The sound of footsteps echoed from inside the club. Talon saw a mass of vampires gathering in the hallway, pointing toward them. Moving lightning-fast, he slammed the two doors shut, grabbed a piece of scrap metal, and shoved it through the door handles. With a firm grip, he took hold of either side of the thick bolt of steel and twisted it, his muscles straining against the fabric of his shirt as he bent the metal in a curve, securing the door.
Talon, breathing heavily, turned to face the woman. His actions had brought him closer to her and, for a second, he was enraptured by the play of light over her shiny black hair and the fire in her eyes. He wanted to lose himself in her body. He felt himself hardening and pressed his eyes shut, trying to will his body’s reaction away. Talon moved backward, pressing his spine against the cold metal of the doors. He wasn’t here for her. She couldn’t be his soulmate. She couldn’t be a true match for him, even setting aside the fact that she was his enemy. He was violence personified. Brutal and deadly. How could he have a soulmate who was scared of the rage within him? It didn’t make any sense.
The mad rage within him pushed against his mind. Still present, almost overpowering—the whole reason he had come to this club was to finally put an end to his miserable life. A soulmate didn’t change that, he thought, brutally cutting off his emotions. It didn’t matter how he felt. He wasn’t fit for a soulmate. Not her. Not ever. He needed to leave. He needed to go back to the fight. He had secured the door. Her and the human behind her were safe. He could throw himself into battle. But he couldn’t do it. He gritted his teeth, bunching his muscles, trying to force himself to turn away from her, but
he couldn’t. His plan, his mission to take out the Ravager stronghold, fell to dust before him. He couldn’t throw himself into this fight. He couldn’t walk away from his soulmate.
Suddenly, he was rocked with inspiration; he could take her back to the Sanctuary. There had to be some record there of how to break a soulmate bond. Lucian had to know something. In all his long years as a vampire, surely he had come across a record of someone breaking away from their soulmate. Talon leaped on the idea with desperate relief. Yes. He would bring her to the Sanctuary. He would take her with him. Keep her close. His body shuddered with yearning and he stepped forward. She recoiled from him and Talon gritted his teeth against his inner pain. This was good, he insisted to himself. Better she was afraid of him. Better she rejected the bond as well.
Talon loomed over her, using every inch of his height to intimidate, even as it tore him up inside. “You’re coming with me,” he said.
Chapter 5
Eden struggled against conflicting desires. Part of her wanted desperately to go to him, the strange pull from within her chest dragging her forward. The other part of her, the sensible part that remembered the mistake she had made in trusting Riker, told her to step back, to grab her sister and run, to put as much distance as possible between her and this violent, terrifying vampire.
“No,” she choked out, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He stalked toward her, all restrained violence and arrogant control.
“Yes,” he growled, “you damn well are.”
She glared up at him, gritting her teeth, feeling her fangs drop into her mouth. “I won’t,” she said. “I’ve had enough of vampires like you.”
“Oh darling,” he said with a sharp smirk, “you’ve never met a vampire like me.”
His words sent a shiver of illicit desire straight through her body, between her legs. Her entire body tightened like a plucked string just from the intensity of his sinfully seductive smile. He wasn’t even trying to seduce her, and yet she felt the pressure of his seductive aura all around her. This was what the vampires in the storybooks were like, every movement drenched in wicked seduction. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be the focus of all his desire, how overwhelming it would be if he actually meant it. She dragged in a rough breath. But he didn’t mean it. It was automatic for him, not deliberate. She had to pull her mind out of the lustful haze it was slipping into. Eden forced herself back from the precipice of desire,
“No,” she said again. “I’m not going with you.” And this time she turned around, the back of her neck tightening with awareness of his gaze. “Come on, Hope, let’s get out of here.” She took a step toward the road.
His snarl echoed through the alleyway and he moved faster than she believed possible to cut her off, suddenly appearing before her. His eyes glowed as they pinned her in place. “You’re not going anywhere,” he bit out. “You’re coming with me to the Sanctuary.”
The Sanctuary? She stumbled back, tugging Hope with her. The stronghold of the Shadows, the terrifying, formidable vampires Riker hated so much. The ones he had sworn to wipe out. That Sanctuary? A ripple of fear went through her as she realized that meant the man standing before her was no mere vampire but…
“You’re a Shadow,” she said in horror.
He stalked through the darkness toward her, and all around him, the shadows seem to ripple and sway. “Yes,” he hissed, and she shivered at the deadliness of his voice. “Don’t try to run,” he said, “I will catch you.”
An illicit thrill went through her at his words. She should be terrified. Quaking in fear at the thought of him catching her. A Shadow Warrior. The monster from the stories right here in front of her. But instead, a treacherous part of her was writhing in a mess of arousal and desire at the nearness of him. God, she wanted him to catch her. Every step he took toward her, the feeling grew. Like something within her chest was tightening deliciously, locking into place and filling the emptiness within. She wanted to drown in that feeling, to relax and luxuriate in it. Eden swayed, her eyes falling half shut.
Hope pressed close to her side and Eden dragged her mind to sharpness. She had begun leaning toward him despite herself. She needed to get a grip. What was she doing? She was behaving like some kind of sex addict. She didn’t know him. He was a total stranger and a dangerous enemy, and here she was, wanting to rub herself against him like a bitch in heat.
She wasn’t going to go with him to the Sanctuary, and she definitely wasn’t going to bring Hope into that den of vampires. Eden gripped Hope tightly, half turning away from the Shadow. What would the Shadows do to Hope, a defenseless, young human woman? Would they turn her, or worse, make her into one of those bite addicts she’d seen hanging around the Ravagers in the club. She couldn’t bear to see Hope used like that
The Shadow tracked her movement with eyes that missed nothing, and he wrinkled his nose in a sneer. “Don’t worry,” he said, “we don’t turn the weak.”
She glared at him. How dare he imply her sister was weak? Then she caught herself. Wait. That was a good thing. If he wasn’t interested in turning Hope, maybe he’d stay away from her. He certainly didn’t look like he wanted to bite her. His gaze transferred back to Eden and a shiver of fear and lust bolted straight through her. No, Hope wasn’t the one he wanted to eat. He looked like he wanted to devour her instead, and God help her, she wanted to let him.
The doors to the club shook under a sudden impact, the bar he had shoved between the handles clattering in its frame, creaking ominously. Eden flinched away from them, unintentionally stepping closer to the Shadow. The Ravagers would break through that door soon, and they would be mad. What would they do to them? Could one Shadow really take on the entire club? And what would happen to her and Hope after? They would be blamed, she knew it. None of the Ravagers ever liked to admit their own weakness. Could the Sanctuary be any worse than the situation she was already in?
She glanced at the body lying in the alleyway. Riker would blame her for that too, despite the fact that there was nothing she could have done to stop the stranger from killing him. Of course he would blame her for it and take his anger out on her. She hunched her body, closing up, imagining the pain he would deal out. She couldn’t stand it; she couldn’t go through it again. She’d had enough of being Riker’s punching bag. Maybe the Sanctuary was full of terrifying, evil vampires but could they really be any worse than the Ravagers? The doors to the club rattled again as the vampires within threw themselves against it. More importantly, she thought, did she have any choice? She wanted to get away from Riker. Maybe this was her chance. He wouldn’t dare follow her into the Sanctuary, and he wasn’t here right now. He wouldn’t know where she had gone. She could finally be free of him.
The door shook once more, and in that split second, she made her decision. She would go with the Shadow to the Sanctuary. She looked up at him, caught by his dark eyes. He must think, because she was a vampire, she knew something about Riker’s plans. That would explain the intense look in his eyes. Well, he’d soon realize she didn’t know anything, and then there would be no reason to keep her or Hope at the Sanctuary. It would be obvious she wasn’t a fighter; she was just a casualty of this stupid war. She ignored the quiet voice in her mind that wondered if she would be able to leave him once she had reached the Sanctuary, not because he kept her there, but because she might give in to the desire that was clouding her body. It would be fine. She wouldn’t be alone with him. She would have no reason to be. She could avoid him, stay with Hope, protect her sister.
At that moment, the thundering against the doors finally reached fever pitch and the bar snapped, the doors smashing open with a great tearing of metal, one flying off and crashing down the alleyway.
Eden felt the stranger’s arm wrap around her like a steel girder. From every point of contact where his thick forearm was pressed against her waist, she felt a shivering rise of heat and lust. She gripped Hope’s hand and pulled her in close as the ma
n tensed and launched them up into the air. Shadows flickered around them and lights blurred as they moved so fast, it was almost like they were flying, reaching the rooftop in a single leap.
He pulled her along with him, their feet just skimming the rooftops. With Eden using her vampire strength to grip Hope to her, she could barely keep up. If it wasn’t for his firm grip around her waist, she would have tripped and fallen behind. The undeniable strength in his grip terrified her more than the speed they were moving and the danger of falling. How much stronger than the Ravagers was he? What had she gotten herself into?
Chapter 6
Riker stood in the deserted alleyway staring at the torn and misshapen lumps of metal that had been the doors to the club.
“What the fuck happened here?” he snarled through his fangs. He turned and glared at the Ravager who had drawn the short straw and stayed to explain the situation.
“Well, sir, you see, it’s just we…” Riker growled and gripped him by his neck, slamming him against the wall.
“It’s just you what?” he said. “You spineless little shit, you let some fucking vampire come in here, tear my club apart, and make off with my fucking girlfriend.” He ended with a shout, his eyes glowing with rage.