But he wasn’t letting go this time. Paul drank deeply, and her body began to sway. Her hands dropped away from him. He was taking too much. Black lights danced before her eyes.
And the furious snarl of a jaguar echoed in her ears.
Paul’s head jerked up, his teeth slicing across her skin. She blinked, looked over his shoulder, and saw a giant black jaguar leap through the broken window.
“No!” Paul spun toward the beast, and Miranda’s knees gave way as she fell to the floor. She hit hard, landing right on her ass.
The jaguar caught Paul in the chest with his claws, digging deep, ripping flesh.
The vampire fought back, swiping with his own claws and managing to dislodge the jaguar with a fierce toss.
The cat rolled in midair. Turned. Landed lightly on his feet. His teeth were bared, ears back, tail down. Then he was lunging toward the vampire.
The vamp tried to run, but the jaguar caught him, locking those deadly teeth around Paul’s leg and yanking him down. Then the cat’s long pink tongue snaked out, rasping over the vamp’s flesh, again and again, and Paul screamed.
A few swipes of that cat’s tongue could peel the flesh right off your hand. Santiago’s warning echoed through her mind. Miranda swallowed and tried to fight the nausea roiling in her belly. She inched toward Sam. Maybe she could find his gun. Then she could help Cain.
Although Cain didn’t particularly look like he needed help. He appeared to be giving the vampire one serious ass-kicking, for which she was damn grateful.
Sam’s lashes fluttered open. “M-Mir…an…da?”
“It’s all…right.” Damn, but her voice sounded nearly as bad as his did. She cleared her throat. Coughed. Felt the strain as she rasped, “C-Cain’s here.”
His bleary eyes darted around the room. “Wh-where?”
The jaguar let out a fierce cry, an unholy, deep, rolling roar of sound that seemed to shake the house.
Right there. And he’s really, really pissed off.
Her head was spinning and Miranda was worried that she’d pass out at any minute.
Not until I know Cain is safe and Paul isn’t a threat. Dammit, I can hold it together! I can!
The jaguar circled the vampire. Paul staggered but held up his claws. “I’m…stronger…than you,” he managed, panting.
Not from where she stood.
“I’ve…got…her blood.” He seemed to straighten a bit, and Miranda tensed, worried that Paul was faking weakness in order to lure Cain in closer to him. “And…soon, I’ll…have her.”
Cain sprang forward.
“Cain!” Her warning came too late.
The vampire leapt aside, raking the jaguar’s back with his claws, then driving them deep into the black fur.
Then Paul was running, jumping through the window and fleeing into the night.
The cat’s muscles tensed, his gaze locked on the window.
Then shot to Miranda.
In those wild, golden eyes, she saw his fury. And his fear.
For her.
“I’m all right,” she whispered because she really couldn’t manage much more than a whisper. “Go! Finish…it.” She didn’t want to spend another night fearing an attack from the vampire.
The jaguar’s head moved in the smallest of nods. The bright light shone down on him, and Miranda had one thought as she watched him.
Beautiful.
He was the most beautiful animal she’d ever seen. Dark fur. Powerful muscles. Eyes so wise and mysterious.
She’d thought him completely black the first time she’d seen him. Now, in the light of her home, she could make out the pattern of markings on his body. Large rosettes lined his fur, and the designs encircled smaller dark spots.
Absolutely beautiful.
His claws dug into her carpet. His back legs curled, and he leapt through the broken window, charging off to track the vampire.
Miranda sucked in a hard breath. Cain could more than take care of himself. He was a shifter. A freaking jaguar, but—
He was her shifter, and she was worried.
From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Sam’s gun. Her hand flew forward, only to be caught in a surprisingly strong grip.
Her gaze lifted. Met Sam’s.
“Cain.” Not a question.
She gave a slow nod.
He flinched. “Christ. I…don’t need…this shit.”
And now really wasn’t the time for explanations.
“Take…it.” He released her, and his hand rose to his throat. He touched the jagged wound and winced. “Make…certain…Cain gets the b-bastard.”
She would.
Using the wall for support, she climbed to her feet. She was still dizzy, woozy as hell, but the black lights were gone from her vision.
And she wasn’t going to give in to the numbing lethargy sweeping through her body. Not yet. Not until she made certain Cain was safe and that the devil was dead.
When her hand rose, she realized she’d left a bloody handprint on the white paint. Miranda swallowed and curled her fingers around the gun. Aim and shoot. That’s all she’d have to do.
If the vampire would just stay down…
Just what would it take to kill one of his kind?
She was about to find out.
But first, shit, first she was gonna have to crawl through that window, because there was no way she’d be able to move the furniture Sam had barricaded before her door.
I’m coming, Cain.
Nine
The pads of his feet pounded against the ground. He had the vampire in his sights. The world around him shifted into a deadly red hue.
Rage.
The jaguar had only one purpose then, to kill.
The scent of Miranda’s blood was in the air, mixing with the vampire’s. The stench of the undead killer burned his nose and had his whiskers jerking.
This time, there would be no escape for Paul Roberts. No mercy.
The jaguar had none, and neither did the man.
In one bounding lunge, he tackled the vampire, sending Roberts crashing to the ground with the crunch of bones and the thud of flesh hitting earth.
Roberts screamed in pain and rage, and twisted beneath him.
The jaguar let the vampire roll. He always liked to look into the eyes of his prey. The better to let the quarry know what hell waited.
The vampire’s lips twisted into what probably would have been a smile. Blood dripped down his chin. “Five more minutes…shifter. I’d…have…ch-changed her. Th-then she would have been mine.”
He snarled.
“Wh-what would you have done…then?”
Loved her anyway. The answer came from the heart of the man.
“I’ll…get her.” Cain’s claws embedded in Paul’s chest. The vampire coughed. Choked. “I’ll…g-get free…go af-after—”
Never play with prey. His mother had taught him that.
Cain knew exactly how to kill a vampire. It was all too easy with his teeth and claws.
Roberts screamed again when Cain moved in for that final attack.
Then…silence.
He jumped away from the severed head and the body. Didn’t look at the remains of the vampire’s chest.
And he caught the scent of honeysuckle on the wind.
No, not now, not—
His head jerked to the right, and she was there. Standing in the light of the moon, her hair a dark, wild tangle around her pale face. Her lips were parted, and her eyes were on the vampire’s body.
Or what was left of it.
Her right hand gripped a gun, one that was pointed at him.
She’d seen the beast kill. Seen him kill. He’d been so caught up in the red fury of bloodlust that he hadn’t even sensed her.
Miranda had seen him as he’d never, ever wished her to see him.
Predator. Savage. Killer.
Her breath came fast and hard. Pounded in his ears as he crept closer to her, his head down. He wanted her t
o touch him. To look at him not with fear, but with—
Hell, more.
Her mouth trembled. The gun lowered and its nose hovered over the ground.
He needed to hold her. To pull her close and feel the warmth of her body against his. For that, he needed to be a man.
The change wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. It was, in fact, nearly as brutal as the act he’d just committed.
But she’d already seen him at his worst.
And she wasn’t running, not yet.
Cain let the all-consuming fire of the change sweep through him. The crack of bones once again filled the air as his body shifted from beast to man. The fur dissolved. Dark, tanned skin reappeared. Claws returned to fingernails. The jaguar’s lethal teeth receded, became those of a man.
His fingers pressed against the earth. His knees dug into the ground. And the whole time, he kept his stare on her.
When the transformation was finished, he rose slowly. Closed the last distance between them. He was naked and when he lifted his hand toward her, he saw the blood that still stained his fingers.
It had always been there. From the first kill.
Miranda hesitated. Carefully put the gun onto the ground. “Cain…”
He didn’t know what to say, but he knew this was the most important moment in his life. If she left him now, there would be no coming back.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Humans always did have piss-poor timing.
His fingers curled into a fist. He wanted her so much, but she deserved better than an animal.
“He was going to…transform me.” Her gaze darted over his shoulder to the vampire, then jerked away. Her voice was quiet, hoarse, when she said, “Make me…like him.”
Cain’s jaw clenched. “You could never be like him.”
Tears clouded her eyes. “If you’d been…just a bit later. If you hadn’t come…I would have been…a vampire.”
Or she would have been dead. He’d met only a few female vamps in his time. Men transformed much easier, while the women usually had quick, brutal deaths.
“If he’d changed me”—she blinked her eyes, and the moisture eased a bit—“would you have k-killed me, too?”
“No!” He reached for her then. He had to touch her, simple as that. He caught her hands in his. Held tight. “Miranda, don’t you understand? I would never hurt you—no matter what you are or—or what you become.” If she’d been made into a vampire, she’d have experienced the bloodlust, the desperate thirst, but she wouldn’t have become a sadistic killer like Roberts. That poisonous instinct just wasn’t in her.
“But if I’d…been a vampire—”
“I would have wanted you just the same. Loved you just the same.” Oh, damn, he’d said it, but there was no taking the words back now.
Miranda’s eyes widened and he saw himself reflected with the moonlight in that stare. “Cain?”
“You’re mine, Miranda. Mine. And I don’t care what you are—human, vampire, it doesn’t matter. You’re mine,” he repeated, growling the words.
Her lips lifted into a smile. “You mean that, don’t you?”
With every bit of his heart. But he knew she didn’t feel the same. Things between them were too new. He’d probably scared ten years off her life with his shifts and—
Miranda kissed him. A soft, open-mouthed kiss. Her arms curled around him, held on tight.
As tight as he was holding her.
Her lips lifted a bare inch from his. “And you’re mine, Cain Lawson. The jaguar, the man—both of you are mine.” Another kiss, one that had his cock rising and his blood heating.
The sirens were dangerously close now and Cain could hear the murmur of voices floating toward them. He tasted her with a quick thrust of his tongue, then pulled back. “Miranda?”
“I love you, Cain.”
The words hit him straight in the heart. “Are you—”
Now the smile reached her eyes. “I’m absolutely certain though I don’t really think this is the best place for a declaration—”
Not with a dead body a few feet away and a pack of deputies about to burst onto the scene any moment.
“—but I wanted you to know.” She brought his hand to her chest. Pressed against the heart that beat too fast. “You’re in here, and I think you have been, from the moment you kicked down my door and saved me.”
She didn’t understand. She’d saved him. From a life alone. From the darkness that could so often torment his kind.
Miranda was offering him life, a real life with a woman of his own.
He wanted to shout his joy to the world. He wanted—
“Shit, Lawson, did you have to leave such a damn mess?” Santiago shoved through the brush and he threw a pair of jeans at Cain. “Hurry up, the county folks are goin’ to be crawlin’ all over this place in the next two minutes.”
Cain reluctantly broke away from Miranda and jerked on the jeans.
Santiago was frowning at the body. “How the hell am I going to explain this mess? I mean, I know the head had to come off, but—”
Footsteps pounded close by. Cain forced a shrug, wishing he and Miranda were alone and far away from the stench of death. “Just say it was an animal attack.” The truth was sometimes the easiest way to handle these situations. “That story worked well enough before for him, didn’t it?”
Miranda swayed next to him. Cain grabbed her, scooping her up into his arms and hoisting her high against his chest. Her lashes lowered. “S-sorry,” she muttered, “this looks…weak as…hell…but I think…I’m gonna…fai…” Her head sagged back against him.
Too much blood loss. Cain cursed. He was such a damn idiot. He should have taken care of her sooner—
The deputies burst onto the scene. Not quite two minutes.
Santiago started shouting orders. “All right, we’ve got an animal attack here. Stay on guard and—”
Cain turned away, kept his hold firm around Miranda, and headed for the houses. “It’s all right, baby,” he whispered, bending to press a kiss against her cheek. “I’ve got you.”
And he was never planning to let her go.
Cain had Miranda out of the hospital and back at his place in near record time.
The next evening she found herself naked in his bed. Cain was curled possessively around her, and Miranda realized she was feeling almost, well, human again.
“Sam told me it didn’t happen, you know,” she murmured the words as she turned in his arms. God, but she loved the feel of his arms around her. The steely muscles, the warm skin.
She and Sam had shared a hospital room for a blessedly brief time. “He told me he was delusional, that he only imagined Roberts was a vampire.”
“And how’d he explain the jaguar?”
Her lips pursed. “He figures in light of the attack, the cat part was real. The cat wasn’t you, of course, just—”
Cain grunted at that, and his fingers stroked along the base of her back. “What? Some wild cat? A jaguar out prowling the countryside?”
Miranda stretched beneath his touch. They’d already made love once, but she wanted him again. “Something like that.” Yet despite Sam’s blustering words, she’d seen the real knowledge in his eyes.
It was a knowledge he didn’t want to deal with, not yet. She didn’t particularly blame him. The world was a bad enough place just with the screwed-up humans.
When you threw monsters into the mix, things truly went to hell.
“What does the deputy really think?”
Ah, he’d read her so easily. Miranda sighed. “I think he believes it’s best to keep pretending, for now.”
“He can’t pretend forever.” A quiet warning as his fingers stilled on her spine.
“No.” No one could. She stretched and kissed the rough line of his jaw. “I didn’t thank you before.”
“Baby, you said you loved me. Trust me, that was thanks enough to last me a lifetime.”
And she knew he meant those words. Mirand
a swallowed. “Where do we go from here, Cain?” Could a shifter settle down with a human? What would happen? Would he go back to working with the FBI while she taught high school students?
“I was thinking maybe an engagement,” he said and his fingers skated over the curve of her ass. “You know, third time being the charm for you and all.”
Her lips parted in surprise. Okay, she hadn’t imagined his confession in the middle of all hell breaking loose. He loved her. “That is what they say.” Grandma Belle had often said those words. Try it again, sweetie. Third time’s the charm. Grandma Belle’s soft voice seemed to whisper into her ears.
“Not too long,” he murmured. “Don’t want you to change your mind on me like you did with the others.”
Never going to happen. She loved him so much there was no room for any doubt in her mind. “Not too long at all,” she agreed.
“We’ll get the rings, book a church, and then you’ll be mine.” He kissed her, one of those kisses that made her feel like she was the most desirable woman on earth.
God, but she loved those kisses. She moved, shifting so she straddled his hips. His bare cock brushed against her sex. Already erect. Warm and hard.
Miranda rubbed over that length, teasing him with the folds of her sex. “Will you keep working for the FBI?” Dangerous, but he was used to danger, and she wasn’t going to ask him to stop being the man that he was. She would fear for him, but she would accept his choice.
A muscle jerked along his jaw and the fingers that had been caressing her now clamped over her hips in a steely grip. “No.” His gaze dropped to her lips. Then her breasts. “Took the last case for you. I’m done.”
Another slow glide of her sex against his aroused flesh. The cream from her core coated the hard line of his shaft. “What will you…ah…do?” Though right then, she didn’t really give a damn. He could sell shoes for all she cared.
She just wanted to keep feeling that firm flesh pressing between her legs.
No, she wanted more. Wanted him inside. Deep.
Flesh to flesh. Finally.
“Gonna teach…criminal justice…community college…” He barely got the words out before her mouth crashed onto his.
Enough talking.
When He Was Bad Page 26
