When she spoke, she actually had a little lisp.
Luke just laughed. “You’ll get used to them. Give it time.”
She wasn’t giving this anything.
“Now, I said you’d come back from death, but there are a few exceptions.” Luke turned his back on her as he paced around the room. “Don’t ever take a stake to the heart. Your heart is key, my dead. Key. And don’t get yourself burned to ash. Oh, and if you lose your head—”
She ran for the bedroom door, but Julian suddenly stepped into her path. He’d moved fast. Way, way too fast. He didn’t touch her. His hands were clenched at his sides. “I’m…sorry. I couldn’t let you go.”
Her breath heaved in and out of her lungs. Her teeth burned in her mouth and hunger was clawing through her. “What did you do?” Talking was hard with those stupid fangs in her mouth.
“I made a deal with the devil.”
Someone tapped her shoulder. “That would be me, sweetheart.”
She didn’t look back. She couldn’t take her eyes off Julian. “I don’t believe in the devil.”
“Maybe you should,” Luke said, sounding annoyed now. “Maybe it’s time for you to start believing in a whole lot of things.”
She had to get out of there. Rose shoved against Julian and he actually backed away. She flew through the doorway and ran—ran faster than she’d ever gone before. In seconds, she was out of the house and barreling down the street. Her surroundings seemed to pass her in a blur and then—
Julian’s hands curled around her. He stopped her. Just appeared right in front of her and caught her hands in his. “I won’t always be able to catch up to you,” he muttered. “Luke just gave me a bonus tonight.”
“What is happening to me?” Because that dark, twisting hunger was so much worse and she found herself staring at his neck. She could see the pulse point there. Could almost hear the swoosh of his blood if she tried hard enough.
Everything seemed too bright. Too bright even though it was night time. And she could hear so many sounds…laughter, from people who weren’t even on the road. The drumbeat of music from a club that had to be miles away.
“You have to drink because you’re still weak.” He pulled her closer and even lifted her up against him, moving her so that her mouth was right at his throat. “Go ahead, love, take what you need. I’ll always give you what you need.”
Her mouth pressed to his skin. Her teeth—she bit him and his blood trickled into her mouth. Warm and strangely sweet and soon it wasn’t just a trickle because she had to take more. She needed more. She drank and she drank and—
Her hands shoved against him. Julian released her and she stumbled back, almost falling onto the pavement. Her hand went to her mouth and she swiped the back of it over her lips. Then she looked at her hand. His blood was on her skin. His blood was in her mouth.
Julian didn’t move. There were two puncture wounds on his neck. Blood dripped down his throat.
You are the nightmare.
“I couldn’t let you go,” he said again. “I wasn’t going to have you die for me.”
She shook her head. Horror built in her and she thought she’d vomit, right then and there. I drank his blood.
“You’re a vampire.”
She’d freaking figured that out! “I don’t want to be this way.” She took another step back from him. “I don’t want this!” Drinking blood? Attacking people? “Change me back!”
His head bowed.
“Change me back!” Rose screamed at him. She was a human. She had a great life. She wanted to grow old and have kids and eat chocolate and not be a monster. “Please!” Now her voice was nearly a sob. “Don’t do this to me.”
“It’s already done.” He wasn’t looking at her.
“You don’t get to make that choice.” She retreated once more. The scent of his blood was messing with her head. She would not bite him again. “It’s my life!”
His head whipped up. “It was your death. I came back to that bedroom and you were dying. Did you think I was going to let you go?” He lunged toward her and his hold was too tight as he held her. “I couldn’t watch you die. Not you. Not fucking you.”
“So you made me into a monster?”
His face hardened. “Rose…”
“Get your hands off me.” Fear and fury exploded in her. “Get away from me, now!”
Slowly, his hands fell away from her.
“Change me back,” she pleaded once more as the bloodlust rose within her. A hunger that made her want to attack.
“I can’t.” Pain was on his face, but it was nothing compared to the pain that seemed to rip her apart.
“Then stay the hell away from me,” she told him and then she was running again. Fast and hard and she didn’t look back.
You are the nightmare now.
***
Julian surged forward, but a hard hand clamped down on his shoulder, stopping him.
“I think the woman wants space,” Luke Thorne murmured. “So I’d advise you to back the hell off right now.”
He didn’t want to back off. Rose was in pain. She was terrified. “I have to help her.”
Luke laughed. “I think the lady feels you’ve helped enough. I warned you…playing God with someone else’s life has consequences.”
He knocked Luke’s hand aside. “I wasn’t going to watch her die!”
“Technically, she did die. And I brought her back because I am the all-powerful Lord of the Dark.” His words were mocking, but Luke’s face was grim. “I broke the rules when I did that. The price paid won’t just be yours alone, remember that. She’s the first vampire that was created not by birth or by bite. Darkness created her, and darkness will have its due.”
His claws were out. “I need her.” For the first time in his life, Julian had found something—someone—worth fighting for. And fate had tried to take her away from him.
“She doesn’t need you. At least, not right now.”
“Bullshit. She’s scared. She’s desperate. She might hurt someone.”
Luke didn’t appear concerned. “Vampires always hurt people. It’s what they do. Get it in your head, panther. The woman you knew is long gone. From the minute she sprouted fangs, she became someone else.”
His hands were shaking. It felt as if someone had ripped his heart clear from his chest.
“Now, about that deal we made…” Luke’s voice was harder.
Luke Thorne…shit, the guy was trouble. Julian knew it. Every dark paranormal who walked the earth feared Luke, and for good reason.
But I had to make a deal with him.
“Let’s see if you’re really as good of an assassin as the stories say.” Luke inclined his head. “I’ve got some beasts who haven’t been following the rules. It’s time for them to be stopped.”
“Let me just talk to Rose again, I need to—”
The air around them seemed to heat. “A deal is a deal,” Luke murmured. “Time to pay the price.” Then he laughed. “Besides, it’s not as if you won’t have time to woo your Rose again. She’s a vampire now. She has eternity waiting on her.”
She’d vanished from the little road. He still had her scent, though. He could track her. “She didn’t even know about monsters.”
Luke laughed once more. “She does now…”
Chapter One
She was evil, straight to her core. A monster to be feared. A creature of incredible power.
She was evil, all the way to her soul. She feared nothing. No one.
So why were her knees shaking? Dammit.
Rose Kinley paused just outside of the loud club. The music was making her ears ache and the thick crowd inside had her wanting to turn and run away. She’d never liked crowds. Not in life and not in her undead existence, either. But crowds made for the best hunting grounds, and she desperately needed to feed.
So she had to woman-the-hell-up, dig deep to be her new evil self, and go in there and find some prey. Simple enough. Her high heel
s clicked as she headed toward the bouncer. He was a big, burly guy, a fellow who sported a whole lot of tats and looked as if he feared nothing on the face of the earth.
I want to be like him.
She was down in Key West, a place she did not want to be, and her immediate priority was getting enough blood so that she could amp up her power. Once she was operating at full capacity, she’d be fleeing the scene as fast as possible. She had too many enemies in the Keys. Distance was a necessity for her.
The bouncer’s gaze swept over her, lingering just a moment on her breasts and her legs. She’d stolen the scrap of an outfit from a nearby shop, knowing it was exactly what she needed to gain entrance to this club. After that brief survey, the bouncer gave a nod. “You’re in, lady.”
She risked a quick glance over her shoulder, unable to shake the sensation that she was being hunted. Only…no one stared back at her from the shadows.
Her imagination. These days, she always saw monsters.
Rose eased into the club. The music was even louder. A band was on the stage, bouncing around, and the crowd was going wild. The scents of alcohol and sweat were heavy in the air. Couples were making out. The drinks were flowing. And it was feeding time. For her.
Rose found her prey easily. She picked a man on the edge of the crowd, a man who was watching the dancers with a faint smile on his lips. He was handsome—tall, blond, wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
Do this. Don’t hesitate.
She walked right up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. His gaze jumped to her face and Rose smiled, hoping she didn’t let her fangs show. When she got really hungry, they had a tendency to sharpen without her knowledge. “Are you alone?”
He grinned at her, flashing perfectly even, white teeth. “Not any longer.” He gave a low whistle. “I think my night just got way better.” His blue eyes gleamed at her.
Poor guy. He had no idea that his night was about to take a serious downturn. She leaned closer to him and let her body brush against his. “How about we go outside?” Rose licked her lips. That was sexy, right? “No one can see us there.”
His smile slipped. For a moment, she thought she’d done the wrong thing. Said the wrong words. Maybe she should have tried compelling him instead of using seduction but she was just so weak that she’d been afraid the compulsion wouldn’t work.
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” he replied as he caught her hand with his. In the next instant, he was pulling her through the crowd, heading right for the club’s back door. He was stronger than she’d realized at first glance. Muscled shoulders, a firm grip. He shoved the back door open with his left hand and then he turned back to her. “This was so much easier than I—”
Something slammed into him.
Not something. A fist. A powerful hook rammed into the side of her prey’s face and he stumbled, ramming into her. She tried to steady him, but the attacker was coming in again.
And, unfortunately, she recognized the attacker.
It was hard to forget the man who’d sent her to hell.
Julian Craig stood there, his golden eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at the man who was now trying to shield Rose with his body. Her prey had turned into her would-be protector, and it seemed sad right then.
I didn’t even get his name.
“You’re going to let her go,” Julian snarled. “Right now.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Her prey shouted right back, but his shout didn’t carry far. The club was too loud. No one even gave them a second glance.
“I’m the man who is about to kick your ass,” Julian snapped back. “Now let her go.”
Why was Julian trying to ruin her undead life?
The blond had tensed and she knew he was getting ready to fight. Only it wouldn’t be a fair fight because a human would be no match for Julian. It would be a straight-up slaughter, and she didn’t have the stomach to watch that, not then.
Her fingers curled over her prey’s shoulder. She rose onto his toes and whispered into his ear, “Go back to the music. Go back inside and enjoy your night.” He needed to follow her order. Because if he stayed with her, if Julian attacked him full-force, then Rose knew the blond would die.
The guy glanced at her. Already, his jaw was bruising. His gaze was worried, confused. “What?”
“Go back to the music, asshole,” Julian blasted. “Now.”
But the blond shook his head. “You think I’m going to leave you with that psycho?” His stare was on Rose. “Forget it. Let’s get out of here together. My ride is waiting out front. We’ll get the hell away from this place and him.”
A growl broke from Julian. “She isn’t leaving with you.” His voice hardened even more as he said, “Rose, come to me. Now.”
What did the shifter want from her? She’d thought to be free of him. Did he just get off on jerking her around?
Rose sighed. As much as she might want to tell Julian to screw off, this wasn’t the time. She didn’t want to drag a human into her battle with the panther. So she pulled free of the blond and went to Julian’s side, frowning all the while. I’m not happy, Julian. Not happy at all.
“Good choice,” Julian praised, then he slammed the back door shut on the blond’s startled face. “Good fucking choice.” He locked his fingers around her wrist and hauled her toward the back of the building. “We have to get out of here, now.”
She dug in her heels. A quick peek behind her showed that the blond wasn’t following. Good for him. “Do you like hurting me?”
Julian immediately froze. Then he whirled, stared at her a moment, as if shocked, then he freed her wrist. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hold so tight, I—”
She grabbed him and shoved him against the brick wall of the club. “I am starving, Julian. Starving.” Because she’d had a truly hellish last few months. She’d been captured by a covert government group who’d lured her in with the promise of helping her, only then they’d started playing torture games. She’d been trapped with them until recently…when she’d learned that her asshole of a brother had been the one to set up that twisted group in the first place. She’d just gotten her freedom and she needed to feed. Badly.
She did not need to be throat-blocked by Julian.
“You need blood?” He blinked. “You can have mine.” He tilted his head, offering his neck to her.
Only there was one big problem with drinking from Julian. He was a shifter—and shifter blood was incredibly powerful. Add that power boost to the animal attraction that she still felt for him—despite everything that had gone wrong between them—and, yes, that equaled a very big problem. Or maybe it equaled a whole lot of big problems.
He’s trouble. Bad trouble for me.
“Take my blood,” he said, still staring down at her. “Then we have to get the hell out of here because you’re not safe.”
What?
“Take it,” he gritted. He wasn’t touching her. She was the one who had her hands slammed onto his chest. “Hurry.”
She glanced around. No one else was in the alley. She didn’t see anyone in the shadows.
“Do I need to do this myself?”
She felt his muscles shift beneath her hands. She glanced back and saw that he’d lifted his left hand to his throat and his claws were out. Those claws still made her nervous. “Julian, what are you—”
He cut his throat. Not too deep, just a little slice and the blood began to drip down his throat. The smell hit her instantly and her fangs shot out to fill her mouth. She rose onto her toes and licked that little trickle of blood. And at that first taste, the surge of power hit her.
Shifter power. It was like a high, a rush from the best drug in the world. It filled every inch of her body and she just wanted to take and take.
The first time she’d had Julian’s blood, she’d been scared out of her mind. The rush had left her shaken and she’d run from him.
She’d been running ever since.
But right then, her hands were
tight on him. Her high heels dug into the cement and her teeth sank into him. His hands flew up and locked around her hips and he pulled her even closer to him.
“Missed you…” His gruff whisper. Words that she must have just imagined because there was no way he would ever say that to her. He’d changed her, he’d left her, and he’d nearly destroyed her.
“There she is!” A sharp voice called out, barely penetrating the fog of her blood lust.
“Got to stop, love,” Julian told her as he gently pushed her away from his throat. “I’ll give you more later. Promise.”
She was dazed, still riding that incredible high, but he moved quickly, shoving her behind him just as—
Bam!
Bam!
Those were the terrible noises that still filled her worst dreams. Gunfire. The blasts coming to wreck her life. But this wasn’t a nightmare. This was reality. And…this time, the bullets didn’t hit her.
They sank into Julian’s chest. He’d pushed her behind him and the shots had hit him.
“No!” The scream tore from her but Julian…he wasn’t falling. He lunged forward and rushed at the two men who’d snuck into the little alley. He slashed out with his claws and raked across the chest of one man, sending him falling to the ground as blood sprayed into the air.
The second man lifted his weapon and fired again, but Julian just laughed. “What is that shit supposed to do? Barely even stings.”
The guy stared at his weapon in shock. “It…it knocks out vamps. The tranq is supposed to take vamps down—”
Julian yanked the weapon out of the guy’s hand and threw it against the nearest brick wall. The gun shattered. “Your bad luck, mate,” he curtly announced. “I’m no vamp.” He slammed his head into the other man’s. Julian heard the crunch of bones and the shooter went down.
He didn’t get up.
Julian looked back at Rose. She’d frozen against the wall. Julian’s blood still dripped down his throat. As she stared at him, he raised his hand and held it out to her, beckoning.
He wanted her to go with him? Rose shook her head. “No, thank you.”
His face hardened. “I know you don’t have a reason to trust me, but I’m not here to hurt you. Your enemies are closing in, love. My job is to keep you safe. Consider me your paranormal protection.”