He smiled. His canines had lengthened to razor sharp points.
"Scared?" he mocked. She couldn"t even hear the vampire"s footsteps anymore. He"d run too far, too quickly.
Allison shook her head and hurried to Thain"s side. She knew there was a whole lot more to this world than met the eye. Vamps were real, and she"d heard stories of other monsters lurking in the dark.
Right then, she didn"t really care what Cade was...all that mattered was that he"d just rescued her a.s.s from the vamps. Laughing, she threw her arms around him. "Thank you!" He could do it. He could keep her safe. Elsa had been right. This man-he was the one she needed.
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.
f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k.
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 turned off 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, h.e.l.l, even her voice was s.e.xy. 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, f.u.c.k-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 d.a.m.n 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 p.i.s.sed 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-d.a.m.n, 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.
f.u.c.k.
"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 who 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s, flaring hips, and an a.s.s 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.
h.e.l.l. He could feel Allison"s heart racing against him. She was afraid again. That should have been a good thing.
Why did her fear p.i.s.s 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 waited 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 a.s.shole 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 d.a.m.n 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."