The guy glanced at her. Already, his jaw was bruising. His gaze was worried, confused. "What?"
"Go back to the music, a.s.shole," 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 h.e.l.l 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 f.u.c.king 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 h.e.l.lish 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 a.s.shole 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 h.e.l.l 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 l.u.s.t.
"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 s.h.i.t 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."
Her gaze drifted down his chest. "They...shot you."
"With vamp tranq. Dumba.s.ses. That was their c.o.c.k up."
c.o.c.k up. Mistake. Right. Sometimes, he used some old British slang. She used to find it cute, charming- No. Rose slammed the door on their past. That door had to stay shut, if she was supposed to keep her sanity in place.
His hand still reached toward her. "I want this to be your choice. I need it to be."
She blinked.
"Come with me. Trust me. Right now."
But she couldn"t. After everything that had happened between them, maybe because of everything, she couldn"t. Sometimes, there was just too much blood and pain and death for trust. "Stay away from me." She kept her back to the wall as she edged toward the mouth of the alley.
"Rose...You need me." Frustration cracked in his voice.
Every time they were together, things just ended in pain. Or her death. "Stay away." Then she gave up trying to creep out of his sight. She turned and ran, heading for escape like the desperate woman that she was.
Two vampire hunters had come for her? Who"d sent them? The government? No way would she become Uncle Sam"s prisoner again. She wouldn"t be anyone"s prisoner. And trusting Julian? No, not possible.
Not with the dark truths she"d learned about him.
Julian Craig wasn"t some hero. He was as far from a white knight as it was possible to be. He was darkness. He was death. He was the monster that she should have feared from the very beginning.
Her high heels clicked as she ran for the parking lot. She didn"t hear Julian behind her, but then, he was too good to make a sound. He hunted like the deadly panther that he was.
And his victim never saw him coming, not until it was too late. By then, his claws would be at his prey"s throat and there would never be a chance to scream.
Her breath heaved from her lungs and she used her vamp super-speed to get her a.s.s away from that alley. Thanks to Julian"s blood, she could move that fast again, but the speed wouldn"t last without more blood. She needed to hurry and put some serious distance between herself and him.
And...
She knew just how to get that distance because Rose had just spotted a familiar blond figure. Her intended prey before Julian had appeared and tried to ruin her night. The blond man from the club was just climbing into the front of his dark SUV. She rushed to the side of the vehicle and grabbed the door before he could close it. "I need a ride." Her voice came out breathless and a little too high-pitched. Hardly the controlled vamp.
The blond blinked at her. "You...wait...what?"
She risked a glance over her shoulder and-s.h.i.t-Julian was stalking out of the alley. He looked p.i.s.sed. "I need a ride really, really badly." She tried to inject power into her voice as she said, "You"re going to give me a ride." The compulsion had better work. She"d gotten that temporary power boost from Julian"s blood, so it should work but...
The man blinked. "Uh, you want to get in the car?"
"Absolutely!" She took those stumbling words for an invitation and raced to the other side of the vehicle. She hopped in- "Rose!" That deep bellow came from Julian. Oh, h.e.l.l. He was running for her.
"What"s your name?" Rose demanded of the blond as she reached over and took the keys from him. She cranked the SUV.
"Simon. Simon Lorne."
"Wonderful. Great, look, Simon, you need to get us out of here." Julian was almost at the SUV. "Now."
He shoved down the gas pedal and they tore out of the parking lot. As they fish-tailed out of there, she heard a long metallic groan, and Rose looked back, frantic, to see that Julian was right behind them. He scratched the SUV. He was that close-close enough to claw the side of the vehicle.
"Faster," she urged Simon. "You need to drive one h.e.l.l of a lot faster." Because she knew the panther would be giving chase.
Simon didn"t argue. Maybe her compulsion power was just working extra well. He got them away from the club and they hurtled down the little two-lane highway. Her heart was about to burst from her chest, and Rose kept looking back, terrified that she"d see a panther"s golden eyes staring at her.
But he wasn"t there.
"You...having some trouble with your boyfriend?"
"He isn"t my boyfriend." Okay, so he had been once. A long time ago. "He"s just a problem from my past." She had quite a few of those. Rose exhaled and forced herself to turn back around and face the front. Slumping in the seat, she said, "Just take the next left. There"s a small motel there. You can drop me off and then just forget you ever met me." His world would be much safer once he forgot her.
"Why would I want to forget?" The SUV drove past the road that opened onto the left. "You"re the vampire I"ve been looking for."
It took a moment too long for his words to sink in.
Too long.
Her head whipped toward Simon, but he was already moving. Simon kept one hand on the steering wheel and with his right hand, he drove a syringe into her throat. The needle jabbed into her skin and she felt a hot liquid pour into her.
Dammit.
"You took out my backup in the alley, but I think I can manage to bring you in alone."
"Think again," she gritted out. Then she leapt toward him. Rose drove her elbow into his face and heard the crack of bones. She grabbed for the steering wheel, but he was fighting her. The SUV swerved into the next lane-and Rose heard the loud blare of a horn.
"You"re going to get us both killed!" Simon yelled as the SUV flew off the road. It bounced hard and hurtled straight for a tree.
"Lucky for me, I"m already dead." She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.
It was just as hard and brutal as she"d expected. Gla.s.s shattered. Metal groaned and she heard Simon screaming.
Chapter Two.
Julian Craig jumped off his motorcycle and rushed toward the wreckage. He could smell blood and the acrid odor of gasoline in the air.
"They came right at me!" A woman was yelling. A human who was frantically spinning around in the middle of the street, wringing her hands. "Crossed the line and nearly hit me! Must be drunk or-"
He reached the pa.s.senger side of the SUV. Rose was trapped inside, penned by the twisted metal. Broken gla.s.s was all around her. Blood trickled from her cheek. "It"s okay, love," he said quietly. "I"m here." He grabbed that door and yanked it hard, tearing it right from the vehicle. The metal groaned as it gave way, and he tossed it to the ground.
"Dear G.o.d." It was the human female behind him. And she sounded terrified.
She should be.
Julian spared her the briefest glance. "Get the h.e.l.l out of here."
She took off running.
He bent toward the SUV. The driver was still trapped inside. The blond w.a.n.ker from the club. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing.
Julian didn"t really care about that fellow.
Rose mattered.
He unhooked her seatbelt and carefully pulled her from the car. "I"ve got you." She was warm in his arms. He could feel the stir of her breath against his neck when he lifted her up, but Rose"s green eyes didn"t open.
With her held tightly against him, Julian walked away from the vehicle. The scent of gasoline was growing stronger. If that SUV ignited, Rose couldn"t be near it. Fire was a surefire way to permanently kill a vampire, and Rose wasn"t going to die on his watch-not ever again. That was a vow he meant to take to the grave with him.
"Love?" He eased her down near the road. The woman who"d been screaming before screeched away from the scene in her sedan as her tires left a trail of burnt rubber in their wake. He brushed back Rose"s hair as he searched for injuries. But...
She just had a few scratches. Nothing too terrible. Nothing that should have made Rose stay unconscious this way. She was a vamp. Vamps were strong. Too strong for this.
"Help...me..." It was the blond b.a.s.t.a.r.d, groaning and waking in the SUV.