Her heartbeat began to slow. Her knife slid away from his heart. “Then it is you.” Big, scary, tough—yes, she’d take him, please. He’d keep her safe. “You’re the one who has been sent—”

He ripped the knife from her hand. Tossed it to the ground. And in the next second, his hand was at her throat. Only…something was wrong. Something sharp had burst from his fingertips.

Claws?

He had claws at her throat. Why would—

“I’m the one she sent,” he growled. “I’m the one who’s here to—”

A shout broke the night. Not so much a shout, but more a bellow that was her name.

The watcher. She’d only been in town a few hours. Had he already caught up to her?

Thain’s head whipped to the right. His nostrils twitched. “Vampire.” He said the word like a curse.

Because it was.

Most thought vampires weren’t real. Just stories to tell in order to frighten children.

She’d been a scared child once. She’d seen the vampire that came into her house. That fed on her family.

Not just a story.

“We have to get out of here,” she whispered. “Now.”

Thain glanced back at her, frowning.

Why wasn’t he moving? Did the guy want to get eaten by vampires? That wasn’t exactly the best way to go.

He stepped back. Well, that was something. Movement. Then Thain shook his head and stared at her like she was some kind of mental case. Yeah, she’d seen that look before. After her parents were killed, she’d tried telling the cops about the vampires. Only the cops hadn’t believed her. They’d just given her the look that said she was insane. The same look Thain was giving her now.

So not time for this.

“Allison!” That roar again. Closer this time. Coming too near.

A growl rumbled in Thain’s chest.

Uh, okay.

Then he caught her hand and they started to run. Not away from that yell. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, they were running toward it.

Allison dug in her heels. “We can’t! Stop!”

But it was too late. The blond vampire had rounded the corner. He rushed at them with fangs barred.

Thain leapt forward and drove his claws—yes, definitely claws, very definitely—right into the vampire’s throat.

Using those claws, Thain lifted the vampire up and tossed him back through the air. A good ten feet through the air.

Allison realized her jaw was hanging open.

The vampire thudded into the side of the alley. Blood gushed from his throat as he shoved his hands up to cover the wounds. He tried to speak, but only a gurgle slipped from his lips.

A gurgle, and more blood.

Thain lunged for him again, but vampires were fast—so fast.

The vampire leapt up and raced away.

For an instant, she thought that Thain would give chase. Instead, he turned to her, breath heaving, claws still out.

His green eyes were glowing.

“What are you?” Allison whispered.

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 ass 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

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

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 shut of 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, hell, even her voice was sexy. 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, fuck-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 damn 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 pissed 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—damn, 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.

Fuck.

“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 you 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 breasts, flaring hips, and an ass 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.

Hell. He could feel Allison’s heart racing against him. She was afraid again. That should have been a good thing.

Why did her fear piss 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 asshole 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 damn 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.”

And since Allison looked so incredibly delicate, so innocent and human, he wasn’t expecting the blade of her knife to shove into his chest.

He glanced down, stunned, and realized that when they’d been in that alley, she’d stopped to retrieve her weapon. He’d been fighting the vamp, and she—

His blood dripped down his chest, and Allison shoved him back with very un-human strength. He flew back and crashed into the opposite wall. She gazed at him with desperate eyes, stunned, scared, then she rushed for the door.

The screen door slammed behind her as she fled into the night.

Taking his time, Cade rose to his feet. The knife had missed his heart by a good three inches. And it wasn’t even silver.

Amateur hour.

He yanked out the blade. Stared at the bloody metal, then broke it with his tightened fist.

She was running from him now. Running fast into that dark night. Pity. She wouldn’t realize just how much he enjoyed the hunt.

The beast always liked to chase prey.

Cade let the change sweep over him, brutal, hard, as his bones popped and broke, reshaped and elongated. Fur sprang along his skin, and when he opened his mouth to cry out to her, a howl filled the night.

Time to hunt.

***

When Allison heard the long, angry howl, she glanced back even though all her instincts screamed…Keep going. Hurry.

Her savior was her executioner. Allison stumbled away, plunging for the thick shelter of the trees. If she’d known how to hot-wire the motorcycle she would have jumped on it and fled, but, dammit, she didn’t have that skill set.