So much for trying to date one of the good guys.
If she made it through this mess, she’d go back to finding the normal asshole biker guys who were nice and safe. The ones who occasionally drove up from Miami looking for a fresh start, only to get burned out by the smalltown life less than a month later.
Cain lifted his hands and his nails started to grow. Lengthened. Sharpened.
Miranda blinked. No way was this happening.
“Come and try, vampire,” Cain’s voice rumbled, dark and dangerous. “Come and try.” A muscle flexed along the strong width of Cain’s square jaw. His face was a tense mask, and his high cheekbones gave him a harsh, predatory appearance. His golden eyes were blazing. So bright. So fierce. So…
Glowing?
He growled, then leaped across the room in one fast move. A snap sounded right next to her ear and when Paul screamed, she realized the sharp noise had been the cracking of his wrist.
Then she was free. Cain jerked her forward, tossed her toward the couch, and the air she’d been holding escaped in a whoosh.
Miranda scrambled around the cushions, turned back just in time to see the men crash to the floor in a heap of limbs and muscles. Snarls and growls escaped them, making the two seem more like animals fighting than humans.
She put her hand to her neck, wincing at the sting and the sticky feel of her blood.
She really hoped that Cain kicked Paul’s ass.
Fumbling, she managed to grab the phone on the end table beside her. Her fingers trembled as she dialed 911 and kept a wary eye on the men.
“911 operator. What’s your emergency?”
Paul kicked Cain off him, sending the taller man hurling back about five feet.
“I—I was attacked.” Bitten by a freak. Cain lunged for Paul. Swiped out with his hand and caught the other man along the face. Deep bloody grooves—Jesus, but what looked like claw marks—immediately appeared on Paul’s previously perfect right cheek.
Paul’s teeth snapped together. “Shifter.”
What?
They were getting too close to her. Miranda jumped over the couch, keeping her fingers clenched around the phone.
The emergency operator was asking frantic questions in her ear, but Miranda couldn’t break her focus from the two vicious fighters long enough to answer her.
They were circling each other now. Cain bared his teeth. “She’s not for you, asshole.”
Paul laughed at that.
“101 Lakeview Street,” Miranda finally whispered to the operator and let the phone drop from her hand.
Paul was just a few feet away. The men were both pretty much ignoring her now, and if Paul kept his advance going, he’d be in front of her in seconds.
“Do you think she’s going to be yours?” Paul asked, voice that of the dull, annoying gentleman she’d had dinner with that evening. “Women like her don’t go for animals.”
Cain flexed his hands. “Yeah, well, they don’t tend to go for sadistic parasites, either.”
Miranda had no clue what they were talking about. Parasites? Animals? What? Keeping her gaze darting between her would-be rescuer and the biter, she began to edge to the left. Toward the very, very big crystal vase that Grandma Belle, rest her sweet soul, had given her when she’d first moved into the house five years ago.
Her fingers wrapped around the crystal. Tested its cold weight.
“I can have any woman,” Paul boasted. “They all beg for my bite.”
Now Miranda was the one choking back a growl. The bastard was almost in range. She lifted the vase, heaving it over her head.
He took another step forward.
Then he spun toward her with his face twisted in fury.
She didn’t hesitate. Miranda hurled the vase at Paul, slamming the crystal right at him.
The vase shattered with a crash. Shards of crystal littered the ground. Blood covered Paul’s face, trickling down his already-battered cheeks and his chin.
But the man didn’t fall. Didn’t so much as stumble.
He smiled at her. “I knew you’d be special.”
Special? She’d just tried to brain the guy!
His hands lifted toward her and her stomach tightened.
Then Cain was there, clenching his hands around Paul’s shoulders and throwing the bloody bastard against the wall. The impact seemed to shake her small house.
And Paul didn’t get up.
Cain stared at her. Those mysterious golden eyes of his gleamed with a feverish intensity. “You all right?”
Not really. She suspected she might be minutes away from a breakdown and—
“Why the hell are you dating a vampire?”
Uh, no, she wasn’t. Because vampires weren’t real and—
And her date had just tried to bite her and drain her blood. Like a vampire.
Vampire.
Her knees buckled. Miranda hit the floor, almost as hard as Paul had just hit the wall.
Cain leapt over the couch. “Miranda?” His gravelly voice was tinged with a faint drawl. One that had made her think of cowboys the first time she’d heard that deep rumble.
“I—I just need…a minute.” Or maybe an hour.
He reached for her, pulling her into his arms and pressing her against the soft front of his T-shirt and that rock-hard chest of his.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now—”
Yeah, well, she wasn’t exactly ready to believe that one yet.
“He didn’t drain you. And he didn’t give you an exchange, right?”
She blinked up at him. “An exchange of what?” She hadn’t even kissed the guy, so it sure as hell wasn’t like they’d exchanged anything—
“Shit.” Cain stiffened against her. “The cops are here.”
No, they weren’t, but the local deputies would probably be on their way soon, provided the dispatch caller had managed to get someone at the sheriff’s office and—
The shrill cry of a siren reached her ears.
“They aren’t equipped to handle him.”
She pushed away from Cain. Painful that, because the man sure felt good. Her gaze darted back to Paul. He was still unconscious. Should be easy enough for Sam Michaels and the other deputies to handle.
Paul’s eyes snapped open. Only they weren’t the light blue eyes he’d had before. They were pitch black. Blazing with fury.
The guy seemed to fly to his feet.
Cain shoved her back.
But Paul didn’t come for her. He ran for the broken door. Dripping blood. Swearing.
Cain followed right on his heels.
So did she.
Just as she reached the edge of her porch, two patrol cars roared up the gravel drive and braked in a cloud of dust and rocks. Paul ran straight toward them, then over them as he jumped onto the hood of one car and then appeared to soar over the other.
Cain rushed after him, only to be brought up short when Sam brandished his gun and yelled, “Freeze, asshole!” Then he turned to the group of deputies, muttering, “Dammit, where the hell did that other bastard go?”
But it was too late. Paul had run straight into the woods. His abandoned SUV waited near the side of her house.
“Go after him, now!”
Two men scrambled to obey.
Cain stood before her, hands up. “Uh, Miranda, tell him I’m not the bad guy here.”
For an instant, she remembered the brutal look on his face when he’d knocked in her door.
He’d sure looked pretty bad then. And he’d more than left his mark on Paul.
“Miranda…”
But he’d saved her ass. “Th—the other one, Sam. He’s the one who—who”—bit—“attacked me.”
Sam swore and lowered his gun.
“You’re not gonna catch him,” Cain muttered, dropping his hands. “The bastard will be long gone before your men can even catch his trail.”
Now Sam’s already tense face hardened even more. “Oh, yeah, and just how do you know that,
buddy?”
“Because scum like that is used to running and hiding. You won’t find him.” He glared at the dark woods. “But I will, and that asshole can count on it.”
The pretty schoolteacher looked pale. Too pale.
Miranda Shaw sat huddled on her porch steps. Her small shoulders were slumped. Her dark hair was a tangle around her heart-shaped face. She kept glancing at him with those big, blue bedroom eyes of hers. She’d look at him, then when he caught her staring, that gaze would dart away.
The lady was afraid of him. Figured.
But he hadn’t been the man trying to kill her. Shit. He’d saved her life. Didn’t he at least merit some kind of hot-and-heavy thank-you kiss for that?
Ah, Miranda Shaw. The sexy lady next door who’d brought him a dozen cookies when he’d moved in beside her. The computer teacher at the local high school. The teacher with the long, slender legs. With the softly curving breasts and the mouth that he ached to taste.
He’d dreamed about the woman for the past four nights. Hot, wild dreams that left him aching and pissed when he awoke alone.
Cain had wanted Miranda from the first moment he’d seen her. Wanted her naked and moaning his name.
He’d thought he’d play the gentleman. Get her used to him. Then take her.
Idiot. He’d wasted time playing the good guy when the woman was hanging out with the undead.
He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
If Miranda wanted to take a walk on the wild side, she could damn well walk with him.
It wasn’t like she could find a guy much wilder, anyway. He could get downright primal and knew that with her, he probably would.
“Uh, Miranda? You gonna be all right tonight?” The question came from the uniformed deputy with the buzz-cut red hair, a fellow who apparently thought he was in charge. Miranda had called him Sam. Cain had no idea what the guy’s last name was.
Her head lifted, and he caught sight of the bruises, scratches, and bite marks on her neck. His hand clenched. Oh, yeah, he’d be finding that vamp. Very, very soon.
“You didn’t catch him,” she said, and sounded both alarmed and disgusted by that fact.
Of course they hadn’t. Humans weren’t equipped to track vampires. Not like he was. Cain knew he should have run full force into those woods after him, and if the deputies hadn’t trained their guns on him, he would have.
Then Miranda wouldn’t be sitting there looking furious and afraid.
But neither he nor Miranda had confided to the deputies about her date’s true nature. Cain hadn’t spoken up because he knew the uniformed men wouldn’t believe him.
Was Miranda keeping silent for the same reason? Or was something else holding her tongue?
Sam crossed to her side and put a hand on her shoulder.
Cain frowned at the man.
“I can keep a patrol car in the area. We’ve got an all-points bulletin out for him—”
Like that would do anything.
“We’ve fixed your door—”
Okay. His fault. Cain winced at the reminder. But when he’d heard Miranda’s scream and caught the scent of her blood on the wind, he’d been frantic to get to her side.
He barely remembered kicking open the door.
“You didn’t fix it,” she muttered. “You pretty much just nailed the thing shut.”
A cough from Sam. “Well, you can go in the back, can’t you?”
Miranda sighed and shrugged off his hand. Then she rose, holding tight to the railing.
“He’s not going to come back, Miranda. He’d be an absolute fool to head this way again.”
Unfortunately, most of the vamps Cain had met were fools. Or sadistic killers.
“I—It’s all right,” Miranda said. “I’ll put on the alarm and—”
Oh, hell, no. Cain marched toward her. Breathed in the sweet honeysuckle scent the woman carried, caught the richer smell of her blood. “You’re not staying alone.” Not until he’d caught that vampire.
A frown appeared between her brows. There was only a little moonlight trickling down on them, but her porch light shone brightly on the small area.
Yet even if it had been pitch black, he would have been able to see her almost perfectly. One of his kind’s little gifts.
He caught her hand. Became aware of just how small and delicate she was. He could crush her bones with a careless touch.
But he’d never be careless with a human female.
And certainly not with her.
She licked her lips and the sensual swipe of her pink tongue had his cock swelling. “Wh—what are you proposing?”
The deputy glared at him.
“My place.” His bed, but they’d get to that later. “You can have the guest room, and you won’t have to worry about that vam—ah, jerk coming back.”
She blinked at him. Damn, but he loved that woman’s eyes. “That’s very kind of you—”
Kind. He snorted. If the woman knew just how many hot and heavy fantasies he’d been having about her, the last word she’d use to describe him would be kind. “Baby, I want you safe. I don’t care what Sam here says”—he jerked his thumb toward the glowering human—“but that creep could be back.” And he didn’t want to take any chances with Miranda’s life.
Damn. Why had the woman been with that guy?
“There’s no reason for him to come—” Sam began.
“Miranda’s the reason.” The perfect temptation. Sensual woman. Sweet blood. How could the vampire resist?
How could he? Especially once he got lovely Miranda locked inside his house?
The beast within began to growl.
He could easily hear the sound of her indrawn breath. Even over the dizzying call of the insects. The mutters of the men. The racing of his own heart.
Then she was pulling her hand away. Easing down the steps.
Running?
Forcing his gaze to break its lock on her, Cain surveyed the area. A large lake separated his place from Miranda’s. The woods surrounded their homes, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the town.
To the right, the way the vampire had fled, waited swamps. Alligators. Snakes.
If he was lucky, maybe one of them would attack the parasite.
Maybe.
“Miranda, if you want to stay with someone, you can stay with me,” Sam said, raising his voice and catching Cain’s attention.
Oh, hell, no. Not one of his options. Bad enough he had to compete with a bloodsucker to get the lady’s attention. He didn’t want to go against some kind of hick deputy.
“I don’t need to stay with you, Sam.” Her voice was clear.
“Then I’ll send the patrol and—”
She met Cain’s stare. “My neighbor has room for me. I’ll be staying with him.”
His blood seemed to heat. Miranda in his house. Perfect.
“Ah, hell,” Sam muttered. “Cuz, you know what you’re doing? You just had one guy who hurt you—”
Her chin lifted, but her gaze never wavered. “And one guy who saved me. Yeah, I know what I’m doing.”
Cuz. Cousin. Cain relaxed muscles he hadn’t even realized that he’d tensed.
“I’m still sending out my patrol.”
Cain gave a slight nod. “Good. And make damn sure that the men you send out are well-armed.” Not that a normal bullet would be able to do much damage to one of the undead but—
It would sure sting like a bitch.
“And you come in to the station first thing tomorrow, Miranda, you got me? You come in, finish this report, and then we’ll get Stan to come out here and put up a new door and a damn sight better security system.”
“No arguments there,” she said, and again lifted her hand to press lightly against her throat. When she winced, Cain ground his back teeth.
“You need to go to the hospital.” Sam was tapping his foot against the stone steps as he made this decree.
“I’ve told you five times already, I’m n
ot going. I let that crime scene guy photograph me, but that is it! I’ve got a few scratches, I don’t need to drive forty minutes to get to Springs Memorial to have a doctor tell me I’m fine,” she snapped.
Cain blinked. Oh, but the lady had a nice temper on her. He liked that—a lot.
“Okay, calm down.” Sam motioned to the other deputies.
“I am calm!” she yelled. “I’ve just had one hell of a night and I really, really just want to get in bed now and try to pretend that all of this crap never happened!”
That’s what the humans usually did. Made excuses for the things they saw. Tried to act like reality wasn’t some screwed-up mix of heaven and hell.
Sometimes those lies worked.
Sometimes they didn’t.
Sam hugged Miranda. “Fine, but I’ll be close. Call if you need me.”
She brushed his shoulder a bit awkwardly. “Okay, uh, thanks.”
He turned his attention to Cain. “Watch her, and you damn well don’t even think of taking advantage.”
Well, other than his plans to rip apart the vampire, taking advantage of Miranda was the only other thing occupying his mind. Not that he was going to confide that little tidbit to the uniform, but—
“All right, guys, let’s pack it up and get out of here. I want to search Smith Swamp and get the status on the men in the woods,” Sam said, snapping out orders as he walked away.
A few minutes later, the cars disappeared in a swirl of blue and white lights.
Cain was left alone with Miranda.
Finally.
Two
She had to be crazy. Miranda paced the length of Cain’s living room, spared a brief glance for the unpacked boxes lined neatly along the left wall, and tried very hard to make her hands stop shaking.
Alone with Cain Lawson. Jeez. Had she taken leave of all her sanity? She should have gone with Sam or locked her house up tight and—
“You’re safe with me, Miranda. Relax.” His voice sounded from right behind her and Miranda spun around, surprised to find that Cain had crept silently from the kitchen.
He held up two glasses, each filled with a dark, amber liquid. “Here, drink some. It’ll make you feel better.”
When He Was Bad Page 16
