The human staff members weren’t completely wrong.

They were a gang, of sorts.

He turned off the bike. Jane was already sliding off the seat, trying to get away from him.

He caught her hand, brushed his fingers over her pulse. Enjoyed the way it sped beneath his touch. “We’ll stay here today.” But he’d make other arrangements soon. As long as Jane was covered, safely away from that sunlight, his pack could keep traveling. It would be easy enough to acquire a van for their use.

Liam exited the motel’s office and headed back toward him. The werewolf tossed Alerac a room key. He caught it easily, fisting his fingers around it. “You’ll stay with me,” he told Jane. As if there was another option. Hell, no, he didn’t trust any other wolf with her.

He didn’t trust anyone else with her.

“Kent and Finn, you take the first watch,” Liam ordered.

The two werewolves nodded. Their curious gazes kept drifting to Jane.

Everyone in his pack had heard whispers about her.

Now they all wanted to get close to the legend.

As he advanced toward the motel, Alerac kept Jane at his side. He sent a hard, determined, back off glare to the others.

Jane didn’t speak until they were inside the small room. One bed. King-sized. Plenty of room for them both.

The last time I was in bed with her…

Well, that time had ended in plenty of bloodshed.

And with her disappearance.

He slammed the door shut behind them. “You can rest here while the sun’s high.” Vampires were always at their weakest during the day. That part of the old story was true enough.

She had stopped in the middle of the room. Her eyes were on the bed.

How he’d like to strip her and take her on that bed.

The wolf inside was clawing at him, so desperate for the woman he’d been denied for far too long.

More than a lifetime. Hell, more than two lifetimes. Did she have any idea what he’d done for her?

He exhaled slowly. Forced his muscles to unclench.

If she knew, she’d probably be running. Screaming.

Instead, she turned slowly to face him. Her hair brushed across those glass-sharp cheekbones. “I don’t like being in the dark.”

His brows rose. “Most vamps do.”

“That’s not what I—” Jane began, frustration flashing across her face, but then she stopped. Seemed to catch herself. Or maybe she just thought better of yelling at him. She cleared her throat and said, “I don’t know about the others.” She tightened her hands into little fists. “I just know about me. Until tonight…” She gave a broken laugh. “I thought I was the only freak out there.”

Anger hummed through him, and Alerac found himself crossing the room in quick strides. “You’re not a freak.” If anyone dared to call her that with him near…

Last mistake that person would make. Last.

Her smile was sad. “Everything I know about the world, I’ve pretty much learned from TV. I don’t remember anything about my life until six months ago. I even had to teach myself to read and I-I’m still not very good at that.” Shame whispered beneath that confession.

The instant she is free…I want her to forget. Lorcan’s words drifted through Alerac’s mind. The bastard. Alerac had thought he just meant that she would forget the pain of her imprisonment. All of those desperate years that she’d been trapped.

But Lorcan had taken every instant of her life away. Every memory.

“I need a witch.”

Jane blinked at him. “Do what now?”

Not just any witch. He’d need a very powerful one. “You’re under a spell.”

She looked at him as if he were crazy. A growl worked in his throat. “I turned into a wolf right before your eyes. You’re a vampire. Did you truly think nothing else out of the ordinary existed?” The shadows were full of monsters. She needed to realize that fact in order to keep surviving.

“Maybe I didn’t want them to exist.” A quiet confession.

What would he have to trade in order to the get the aid of a powerful witch? The price would be high. It always was. “We’ll get your memory back.”

Her head tilted as she stared up at him. “Do I want it back?”

No. There was no way that she could want to remember her imprisonment. Maybe I can keep that part from her. Maybe I can get a witch who will pull up only memories before the day she traded her life for mine.

“How do you know me? Were we…were we friends?” Before he could answer—and he didn’t want to lie, not to her—Jane shook her head. “Heath told me that you tracked vampires. That you killed them.”

True enough. He’d killed countless vampires over the centuries.

“Are you going to kill me?” Asked so softly as fear slid into her eyes.

“If I wanted you dead, I could have killed you behind Wylee’s Bar.” He could have killed the bouncers and her. Instead, he’d let the men live.

For her.

Jane swallowed.

“Your death isn’t what I want.”

“What do you want?”

“I already told you,” and because he couldn’t keep his hands off her, not for even another second, he pulled her against him. “You.”

When her lips parted in surprise, he took her mouth. The kiss should have been softer. She was delicate, almost broken, and he hated that. He wanted her strength back. Wanted her passion.

Yes, he should have used gentleness with her. Care. But he wasn’t human, and easy wasn’t the way of the beast.

His tongue thrust into her mouth as he lifted her up against him. So small. He took three steps, and he had her body pinned against the wall.

He would have gone straight for the bed, but he was trying—in his way—not to scare the hell out of her.

The wall seemed the safer alternative.

Maybe.

Her taste. Her f**king taste was incredible. The first time he’d kissed her—he still remembered that moment—he’d gotten a little drunk off her.

He was getting drunk right then.

She tasted of paradise, of every pleasure he’d ever had. Woman and temptation. Sweet wine.

Secrets in the dark.

His hands were wrapped around her waist. His fingers brushed just under her br**sts. He wanted to lift up his hands. To touch her ni**les. Pretty, pink ni**les.