by Cynthia Eden
How typical of him.
Eyes narrowing, she leaned even closer to him. “Stop the bike, Julian,” she said, nearly purring the words into his ear. She wasn’t sure if a compulsion would work on another paranormal creature—she’d actually never tried to work her power on someone like him—but she figured she had nothing to lose.
Only the guy just kept driving.
Her breath blew out in a huff as the wind whipped against her. Fine, if that was the game he wanted to play…
He didn’t have on a helmet. Neither did she. No helmet, no leather jacket. He had on a t-shirt, and the back of his neck was exposed to her. Truly, in that instance, what was a hungry vamp to do, but take a bite?
Rose leaned forward. She put her mouth to his neck. Her lips feathered over his skin, then her tongue slid out and lightly licked him.
The motorcycle jerked to the left.
Then Julian was braking the bike. Swearing up a storm, but braking and then he whirled to face her on the motorcycle. Their faces were close, their mouths just inches apart.
“What in the hell kind of game are you playing?” His voice was a low, dangerous growl. “I pulled your sweet ass from one wreck tonight. Are you in the mood for a second?”
“My kiss distracts you enough for a wreck?” She let her brows climb. “Interesting. Now I certainly do wonder what my bite would have done.”
But, before he could reply, she jumped from the motorcycle. All she’d wanted was for him to stop and she’d gotten what she wanted. Now to get away from him as fast as she—
His hand flew out and locked around her wrist. Stupid lightning-fast shifter reflexes.
“Love, you’ve been around humans for so long that you’ve forgotten just how strong others paranormals can be.”
Rose’s chin notched up. “Not like that whole forced close-proximity to humans bit was my choice.” None of the madness ever had been—that was the problem. “I didn’t ask to get kidnapped by some covert government group and tossed in a cage.” But that was exactly what had happened to her. She’d spent the last few months in hell. Oh, sure, the government had a cool name for the group that had taken her—Operation Night Switch. And the group had liked to peddle some BS about using paranormals to make the world a better, safer place.
But she’d seen nothing better. She’d just learned more about betrayal and pain. Because that twisted group that had kept her for so long? The bastards who’d starved her and tortured her as they tried to turn her into the perfect weapon for Uncle Sam? The group had been headed by her own brother.
A brother who was now dead. The last of my family…gone. And she’d felt only relief when he died. “I just got my freedom,” she said, her gaze dropping to her wrist. He wasn’t hurting her with his grip. Julian had never physically hurt her. “So why are you so hell-bent on taking it away?”
“Believe it or not, I’m trying to protect you.”
Not. Her gaze rose to meet his. His golden stare blazed with the power of his panther.
“Consider me your paranormal protection, sweets. I’ve been assigned as your twenty-four, seven bodyguard. My job is to make sure that you don’t wind up in a prison again.”
Being caged again was the last place she intended to be.
“You think I don’t know that you hate being near me?” His voice had gone rougher, and he gave a bitter laugh. “Trust me, I get it. You see me and you see pain.”
That hadn’t always been the case. Once, she’d looked at him and thought she saw her future waiting. But that future was long gone. Now she just had blood and death to look forward to for the next millennia.
Provided, of course, she could manage not to get thrown into another cell.
Since becoming a vampire, she’d learned some bitter lessons.
Lesson One. Trust no one. Absolutely no one. Because even family would turn on you in an instant. You weren’t human any longer, so people tended to treat you like a monster.
Lesson Two. The paranormal world was all about survival of the fittest. The older a paranormal being was, the more powerful he or she was, too. And since Rose was a newbie, she tended to measure up terribly low on the power scale.
“Has the drug worn off?” Julian asked her.
“I’m a little sluggish, but otherwise okay.” She was low on the power scale, but Julian…he was a different beast, literally. He’d been born a paranormal, so he’d been accumulating power since before he could even talk. And the stories she’d heard about him since her transformation…
He’s the right hand of the devil. The instrument of death.
She’d never known him at all.
Rose licked her lips. “Why…why is Simon after me?” A shiver slid over her skin. “Is he connected to Operation Night Switch?”
His jaw hardened. “I think dumbass Simon is just the errand boy for another player on the paranormal scene. His boss is a guy who calls himself the ‘Collector’. My…source told me that the Collector had been using the ONS. Getting their men to help him find certain paranormals, only he had no intention of working with Uncle Sam. The guy wanted these paranormals for his own purposes. He found them, caught them, and locked them away.” His fingers stroked along the inner line of her wrist. “And he wants you now.”
That was so not good. “For his collection.” Because Julian had mentioned that before, back at the crash scene. Before he could speak, she gave a hard shake of her head. “I can’t do that again. I-I can’t be starved and locked away.” Tortured. Tears stung her eyes so she blinked them away. “It won’t happen.”
“No, it fucking won’t. Because I won’t let it happen.”
She wanted to believe him, but that just led right back to that pesky trust situation between them. Or rather, the whole lack of trust situation.
“I figure the best way to keep you safe is to find the Collector and cut off his head.” He smiled and she saw that his canines looked extra…deadly. His teeth changed when his beast was close. Got a whole lot sharper. Sharper than even her vamp fangs because a panther had a seriously strong bite. “Since the guy is just waiting down at the dock on the Pandora,” Julian added grimly, “that was where I was heading. You know, before you decided to play a little game of Turn-On-The-Beast.”
She hadn’t been playing a game. And she hadn’t been trying to turn him on. “This Collector…he has others trapped.” She remembered that part. When she’d first woken after the crash, things had been a bit blurry, but she swore she could remember someone talking about…
A muse?
A witch?
Maybe even an angel?
If demons are real, then I guess angels have to be real, too. As a human, she had been completely blind to the real world around her. The paranormals were out there, all right. Most of them hid in plain sight. The weaker ones, anyway. The stronger ones…
They stayed away from humans. Mostly because when a powerful paranormal came into contact with a human, well, the human didn’t get a happy ending.
Case in point, look at my life.
“I’ve been told that, yes, he has others…and that dumbass who tried to take you just confirmed that to me, tonight.”
She climbed back onto the motorcycle. “Then what are we waiting for?” Her hands curled around him.
He stiffened. All of that wonderful muscle went rock hard beneath her touch. “Rose?”
“You said the Collector is at the dock. Let’s get our asses there, have some big showdown, and stop him.” She tried to sound a whole lot more confident than she actually felt. At most moments of peril, she was utterly terrified, but Rose knew you weren’t supposed to show fear in the paranormal world. Fear was a weakness.
The others preyed on the weak.
Evil—that was a strength. Don’t-Give-A-Damn attitude…that was something to be admired. She was trying to fake her way through the new world she lived in.
“If he has others trapped, we have to help them.” On this part, she was adamant. She’d been a prisoner, and she couldn’
t stand the thought that others were trapped like she’d been. Collected. “Come on, let’s go.”
His head was turned so that their eyes met. He hadn’t started the bike yet. “You were trying to run from me a moment ago.”
“Yes, well,” she cleared her throat…You’re the biggest bad-ass I see right now. And the devil you know…he’s supposed to be a whole lot better than the other monsters hiding in the dark. At least, she hoped so. Rose pasted a bright smile on her face. “I figure the enemy of my enemy can be my temporary partner. So let’s haul ass and get this done. Then you won’t need to protect me any longer. I can go my own way. You can go yours.”
His face hardened. “And you never have to see me again.”
Her heart stuttered. “Right. Never. Never ever in the infinity that is left of my life.”
His teeth snapped together. “Hold the fuck on, got it? Because I’ll be going fast.”
She was a vamp. She was used to super speed now. And—
He revved that engine and they raced off into the night. She held onto him tightly, her body pressed to his, and her thighs around his. The motorcycle vibrated beneath her. Rose tried not to notice just how good Julian felt, how strong. She tried not to think about how good he’d tasted.
She failed.
Soon I’ll be away from him again. And soon my heart will stop hurting.
Soon…
“Drive faster,” she whispered. “I can handle it.” She could handle anything he threw at her.
He went even faster. She hugged him harder.
And she hated that they seemed to fit together so perfectly.
***
The sports yacht waited at the end of the pier. The waves were growing stronger in the distance, but the Pandora was tied securely and barely seemed to move in the water.
The Pandora was a forty-footer, one that appeared to have all of the latest bells and whistles. A faint light glowed from the yacht’s interior, and Julian sure as hell hoped that his prey waited inside.
His motorcycle was hidden a few yards away. Luke Thorne actually kept a building on the dock just to store their vehicles and bikes, so Julian had stashed his ride there. Julian and Rose stalked silently toward the boat, and he made sure she stayed behind him. He didn’t like the idea of her hunting with him, but he sure wasn’t going to leave her alone some place. Until the Collector was dead, he planned to keep Rose at his side. That had been the deal, after all. The deal he’d made with the source who’d tipped him off about Rose being the Collector’s next target.
“I don’t see anyone in there,” Rose whispered. Her fingers pressed to his side, and even that little touch turned him on. Did she get that? Did the woman have any fucking clue what she did to him? Probably not. Or if she did know, she didn’t give a shit.
When they’d been riding on that motorcycle, and her soft body had surrounded him, he’d wanted nothing more than to pull over, take her off that bike, and take her. It had been far, far too long since he’d had his Rose. And even back then…back in the day when she’d still looked at him like he was some kind of hero, he’d had to use care with her. Such gentle care. A shifter wasn’t supposed to take a human as a lover. Another rule he’d broken.
He’d never been good with rules.
Shifters were too rough, too wild, for human lovers. When their passions were roused, their beasts had a tendency to come out—and that meant claws. Fangs. Torn sheets. Primitive pleasure. But he’d always held tightly to his control with her. He’d held back, not wanting to so much as bruise her skin.
Because she’d been human.
Because she’d mattered.
She isn’t human now. She can handle your beast. That meant the sex between them would be fucking insane.
Not that it was going to happen.
And that makes me all the more ready to kick some ass tonight.
“You have better hearing than I do,” she continued, her voice barely a breath of sound. “Is someone on the boat? Someone I can’t see?”
He did have better hearing—no other paranormal had a stronger sense of hearing than a shifter. All of his senses were enhanced—hearing, smell, vision, taste. He felt more. Which could be a strength or a serious weakness. “Someone is on the boat.” He just didn’t know if that someone was his intended prey or not.
Time to find out. He leveled a hard stare at Rose. “You stay behind me, every step of the way, got it?” Because maybe this was a trap. Maybe that jackass Simon had just wanted to lure him out to the Pandora with Rose. Maybe the guy had thought Julian would leave Rose behind on the dock while he searched the boat. Then some goons would rush to the scene and grab her.
Not happening. Wherever I go, she goes. That was the deal for the foreseeable future.
Rose sighed. “I get it. You want to lead, you want to take bullets—”
His body tensed as he remembered another time. Another place. Bullets that had torn into her. Hell, yes, he’d take bullets to stop her from ever suffering like that again.
“—then by all means, lead the way.”
He would. And he’d go with his claws out. He rolled back his shoulders and called up his beast. His fingers changed, lengthened, as the claws sprouted from his fingertips.
“That’s…always a little scary to me,” she mumbled. “When you do that.”
Because his claws were sharper than most knives. He gave her a grim smile. “I’ve always been a little scary to you.” His head cocked. “But you want me anyway.”
Her lips parted. He could still feel those lips on his neck. He’d gone rock hard when she put her mouth on him. The woman was seriously lucky she hadn’t been in a second accident that night.
Her mouth obsessed him. Bow-shaped, red, those full lips…How many times had he fantasized about her mouth on him?
“I don’t want you,” she denied hotly. “Okay, wait, all I want is for you to get us on the boat so we can stop the bad guy. That’s it. That’s all.”
He smiled at her. “Liar.”
But they’d deal with that part, later. Right now, he needed to move fast. He probably should have killed Simon, but he’d felt…well, he’d felt her eyes on him and Rose asked to let the human live. So he had.
Though he fully intended to hunt down the human at the next available opportunity. Simon deserved more pain. The guy had drugged Rose. He’d targeted her. Julian wouldn’t be forgetting the guy anytime soon. And I have his scent. That means I can track the SOB any place I want.
They crept toward the boat. The scent of the salty ocean teased his nose. He could hear voices in the distance. Laughter. Folks were still partying at the clubs nearby. People were always partying in the Keys. They thought they were escaping from their troubles. Heading to paradise.
They had no idea that the monsters had beaten them down to the sandy shores.
He jumped onto the boat and landed easily. After all, he was cat-like for a reason. He held Rose’s arm when she jumped. Not that she needed steadying. Vamps had good balance, too. He just liked holding her.
Always had.
Another weakness.
He eased down the steps that led below deck to the cabin. He could hear a faint rustle down there. A rustle and…mumbling.
“Fire…fire…Wait for Simon…Fire…Simon says…Simon says fire…Do what Simon says…”
What the fuck?
Julian kicked open the door that stood between him and his prey.
A man whirled toward him. No, not a man. More like a boy. Rail thin, with shaggy, black hair that hung into his green eyes. His hands curled at his sides as he blinked at Julian.
“N-not Simon…Simon says…”
Julian lifted up his claws. “I don’t give a shit what Simon says. Tell me where the Collector is or you’ll be in a whole new world of pain, kid.” He hadn’t heard anyone else on the boat. This kid—this sweating, mumbling kid who weirdly wore an overcoat in the freaking heat of the Keys—was his best lead.
He was…
The kid yanked open his coat. And Julian realized just why the guy was overdressed. The mumbling kid was wired to explode. Oh, shit.
“Julian…” Fear shook Rose’s voice.
“Simon says fire…if he’s not here…if he doesn’t come…fire…” Terror glowed in the boy’s eyes even as his fingers tightened around what Julian now saw was some kind of detonator—a trigger that was cradled in his right hand. “Simon says…”
Julian whirled and shoved Rose back toward the stairs. “Get out!”
“Stop him!” Rose yelled back at him. “He’s just a kid! Help him, help—”
“Help…” The boy gasped out the word. “Simon says…”
Julian spun back toward him. Tears were raining down the boy’s face.
“Can’t stop…Have to do what…Simon says…”
Julian lunged for him, grabbing for that trigger.
The kid cried out, “Sorry!”
Julian felt Rose’s fingers grab his back. I told her to go! But it was too late now. The kid had already pressed that trigger. Julian could hear a faint hum as the device activated. Oh, fuck me. But the blast hadn’t ignited immediately. That meant they had time—or at least, a few precious seconds to spare.
His claws sliced right through the vest-like apparatus on the boy’s torso. The bomb dropped to the floor. The hum became a beep. Julian caught the kid by the nape of his neck and threw him at Rose. “Get him out!”
The explosion erupted, the flames shooting out behind him, throwing him into the air, sending him hurtling toward Rose. He saw the terror in her eyes.
Then he saw the flames, surrounding them. Going for her.
Flames can kill a vampire. “No!” Julian roared.
But it was too late. The flames were too hot.
The fire came for him. He kept running for Rose even as the flames burned his skin.
The fire came for him…and for her.
Chapter Four
The water was cold. Wonderfully, perfectly cold. Cold and dark. Rose kicked up and broke the surface, sucking in a deep gulp of air.
Only she hadn’t exactly come up alone.
A certain panther shifter had his arm wrapped tightly around her stomach—his hold was pretty much a death grip.
