Authors: Cynthia Eden
His hands were on her hips, holding her tight. So much power. She’d had a handful of lovers—all human—in her life. They’d felt warm and alive but Jace was something all together different.
He wasn’t just warmth. He was a furnace, and the heat from his flesh warmed every inch of her.
“Don’t play too long,” came his warning to her.
A warning she ignored. She’d never played. Why not try now?
She kissed her way up his body. Morgan knew she should have felt hesitant, nervous, and moments before, she
had.
But now she just needed.
She licked his neck and felt the wild drumming of his pulse beneath her mouth. A vampire’s bite wasn’t like a wolf’s. There was no pain, there never was, not unless the vampire decided to play rough.
No pain, and, when done right…pleasure.
She really wanted to do this right for him.
His hands trailed up her body. Such big hands, with rough fingertips and a gentle touch. His hands curled around her breasts, and a moan slipped from her. His name.
Her nipples were tight, and when his fingers pushed over the hungry peaks, she closed her eyes.
Her teeth pressed against his skin.
Her thighs shifted, spreading even more for him. She couldn’t ever remember being this aroused for another.
Not about duty. Not about the vampire nest.
Right then, it was just about a man and a woman.
“Take me in,” he whispered as his cock pushed up between her legs. Her body resisted because the wolf was so big. The head of his cock stretched her, but it didn’t hurt. It felt good, so good.
She pushed down, even as his hips thrust up, hard,
harder
. Morgan took him all in and her teeth sank deep into his neck. His blood flowed on her tongue, and his blood was as addictive as his kiss. She drank him in, drank—
Jace growled, and the room spun. No, he spun, pushing her beneath him while never taking that thick cock from her body. And she didn’t take her teeth from his neck. No, no, she wanted more of his blood.
More, Jace. More.
Images raced through her mind. A thousand flashes, like photos flying in a storm. They hit her, rolling through her mind as his memories became hers. Bonding.
She took more of his blood. Licked his throat.
He thrust deep. Harder. His fingers pushed between her legs. Found the center of her need and stroked her.
The images vanished. The only thing that remained—Jace.
Her mouth eased from his throat. She swiped her tongue over her lips. Stared up at him. His jaw was locked. His eyes glowed so brightly that it almost hurt to look into them. He’d obviously been waiting for her to look up, to see
him.
“Now we finish,” he promised and drove deep into her.
Her legs wrapped around his hips. Her nails sank into his arms. She arched against him, pushing as hard as she could. He thrust inside, filling her, every inch so stretched and full, and she loved it.
He withdrew, sliding nearly out of her eager sex, only to plunge back inside. Again. Again.
The headboard slammed into the wall. The bed slats gave way with a groan, and the mattress tumbled onto the floor.
He kept thrusting. She held on. Wanted more blood. Wanted more of
him.
Pleasure had her sex clamping around him. The climax bore down on her, so close, so—
She bit him when she came.
He erupted inside of her, hot jets of semen that filled her.
And he held her tight. So tight that she wondered if he’d ever let her go. Then she realized her hands were clamped around his shoulders. Her nails deep in his skin. Holding Jace just as tightly…
Because she didn’t want to let
him
go.
***
Morgan dreamed of Jace’s life that day. The images flew through her mind, one after the other.
A young Jace, had to be barely thirteen, running through the woods. Falling. Shifting.
Screaming.
Changing.
Older, he strode into a vampire bar. When two vampires leapt at him, he struck out
with his claws.
Blood covered the floor.
There was more blood. Always more. He hunted. He killed. A perfect weapon. There were women. They passed in a flurry. Beds. Sex.
Jace. Aging. Growing.
Stronger, deadlier.
Not enough laughter in his life. Just death and violence.
Then…
Me.
Morgan saw herself in his memories, in the days that she already struggled to remember. Standing in the sunshine that last time, feeling normal. Human. He’d watched her. Seen her cry. Not human tears, because then, she’d been beyond that. Tears of blood. The sign that her change was at hand.
“
Kill the bitch. Teach them that no vampire is beyond our reach.”
An image of the pack’s ex-alpha rolled through her mind. “
Do the job. Rip out her
throat.”
Jace stalked toward her. She stood on her balcony, staring up at the night. His claws
were out.
Then she looked down—at him.
There were no tears this time.
Jace turned away.
But the blood didn’t stop. He’d gone back for the alpha.
“You can’t take me, boy, you
don’t even know how strong I—”
The alpha’s blood had stained Jace’s claws.
Morgan tried to shut out the memories. It was too much. She didn’t want to see anymore. No more death. It was all he knew.
Yet he hadn’t killed her
.
As the images kept pushing forward, she realized that Jace had visited her again. And again. She hadn’t known it, but he’d been there so many times. Not to kill.
To guard.
***
Jace watched her while she slept and wondered what memories she saw. He knew how the bite worked. Another reason the vamps had stopped drinking directly from humans was because they couldn’t stand the memory overload.
When you drank from a live source, you saw memories.
What did the vampiress see?
He bent over the bed and wiped away the bloody tears that trekked from her eyes. He’d always hated her tears.
You see me now, don’t you?
The dead had piled at his feet over the years. If he had one talent in this world, it was killing.
It would be a talent that aided them when the battle with the demons came. But…what would Morgan think of him when she woke?
“I’m not a fucking monster.” Liar, liar…and who’d know better than her? In his head now, always, there’d be no hiding from her.
She’d know it all and understand the obsession he carried. For her. He eased away from the bed. He didn’t want to look into her eyes with the memories between them. Not yet.
Jace spun away and left the room.
He hurried down the hall and shoved open the front door. The afternoon sunlight hit him, bright and hot, the way it always was in Miami. The buzz of insects bled from the nearby swamp, droning on and on. When he jumped down the steps, his first in command, Louis, pushed away from his truck.
Jace had heard the other wolf drive up. He’d just taken his time about heading out.
“We got trouble,” Louis said, his Cajun accent rolling easily on the words. “No one seen any sign of Mike. Nothin’ except his blood in an alley.”
Jace’s brows snapped up. “Look, that asshole is just sleeping it off someplace, he’s—”
“That alley reeked of vamp, alpha.” Louis shook his head. “Not your pretty little vamp. Didn’t smell like sex and blood and flowers…”
Jace’s teeth snapped together. But, fuck, yeah, that was how she smelled.
“More like hate, death, and…brimstone.”
Brimstone? “You saying demons were there, too?”
Louis’s shoulders rolled. “I’m sayin’ we got us a missin’ wolf. And blood and vamps where they damn sure don’t need to be.”
In wolf territory.
He glanced back at the house.
Gravel crunched beneath Louis’s feet. “You gave that
cher
your blood?”
“I had to.” It was part of the deal. The vamps wanted a power boost by taking wolf blood. “I gave her mine, and I took hers.” Jace glanced down at his hands. With barely a thought, he had his claws springing out. “It worked just like we thought. Her blood in me…”
The rush was still un-freaking-believable. “I can already feel the power.”
“You gonna get more?”
“I’ll get as much as I can take.” His gaze held the other wolf’s. Louis nodded. “Will it be enough?”
“It has to—”
The world exploded. The blast tossed Jace into the air, and he slammed into the front of Louis’s pickup.
It took him three seconds to realize it wasn’t the world that had actually erupted. No, that giant ball of flames had come from his house.
Morgan.
The fire ripped up at the sky, twisting and turning.
Blood dripped down the side of Louis’s face. “What the hell is—”
Jace ran for the house.
“Jace! No!” Louis’s footsteps pounded after him.
He ran faster.
Morgan was in the house.
A vampire’s skin couldn’t stand the fire. She’d die—
He grabbed the door handle and shoved. The door collapsed beneath his hand. “
Morgan!”
He bellowed her name and rushed inside.
And he tripped over her. Morgan was on the floor, her arm stretched toward the door. Stretched fucking toward him.
He grabbed her and hoisted her into his arms. The flames crackled and flared around him, licking out at his skin. He ignored the burn. Morgan’s head sagged against him, and her eyes didn’t open.
Jace held her tight and leapt back through that broken doorway. Smoke billowed out behind him.
She barely seemed to breathe. Ash and soot covered her, and Jace could see the angry red blisters that lined her perfect skin.
Hurt. On his watch.
Not ever again.
Windows shattered behind him, and Jace hunched his shoulders, curling his body in to protect her. Glass flew into the air, and shards sank into his flesh. Rage grew within him with each step that he took away from the inferno. Jace didn’t ease his hold on Morgan, not until he’d settled behind Louis’s truck. Then he carefully lowered her onto the ground. Her eyes still didn’t open.
“Oh, hell…” Louis’s drawl. “She’s not…” The shifter’s voice cracked. “The
cher
ain’t alive, is she now?”
Jace put his hand over her heart and didn’t feel it beat.
Blood flowed into her mouth, hot and rich, and she drank greedily. The blood brought memories.
His
memories. Not of death and hell this time, but of a wild run through the woods. The thrill of the chase.
I’m hunting.
Morgan’s eyes cracked open. She wondered why she
hurt.
Every part of her body burned and ached and—
Oh, yes, she burned because she’d been
on fire.
Jace pulled his wrist away from her mouth. “Don’t ever do that to me again, got it?”
She was on the ground. No, not on the ground, but sitting on Jace’s lap. His blood was already sliding through her veins, healing her even in sunlight. She wasn’t naked anymore. Because she’d had to run through that fire naked. She’d woken in his room only because the fire licked at her skin. She’d leapt through the flames even as she screamed his name.
Now she wore his shirt. It smelled of smoke and him. And her teeth were still sharp, and she was
pissed.
In a flash, she twisted around and pinned him against the ground. “What did you do?”
His twisted grin flashed. “Glad you’re feeling better.”
She felt rather like burned shit right then. “You tried to kill me.” The bastard had left her to the flames.
That wiped the grin right off his face. “The hell I did.”
But he hadn’t been there. “You left me when you knew I was weak.” Her hands dug into his wrists. She was aware of the other wolf shifter walking cautiously around her. Smart wolf, he wasn’t coming too close, not yet. “You set me on
fire.”
The Council had been right. She should have known better than to trust the alpha. Not even married a full day and he was already trying to kill her. Her teeth snapped together as she glared down at him. She’d actually started to trust the wolf. How stupid was she?
“I
saved
you,” he threw at her and—and he wasn’t fighting her. He was just staring at her, eyes too bright, and…bleeding. Cuts and blisters covered his skin. Blisters, as if he’d been in the fire.
Her head snapped up. An ugly green pickup blocked her view of the house, but she could hear the crackle of the flames and the stench of the smoke burned her nose.
“I was out here with Louis when the fire started.” Jace’s voice hummed with quiet fury.
“Then I fucking raced in for you.”
He’d…gone in there for her?
“I thought you were dead.” So much rage underscored his words. “So I made you drink. I knew my blood could help heal you.”
Not dead. But close.
She gazed at him. Her thighs hugged his hips just as they had last night. The memories were there, between them both.
“Uh, I hate to interrupt this would-be make-out scene…” The other wolf mumbled as he ran a hand over his face. “But I think we got us a real big problem.” Tension had tightened the faint lines on his handsome face.
Morgan rose slowly. Her knees wanted to wobble but she forced herself to stand. A quick glance showed the blisters on her arms were almost gone.
Such powerful blood.
Jace rose and towered over her. He glanced back at his house, and she saw the muscle flex in his jaw. “Some asshole is going to pay.” He pointed at the blond wolf. “Louis, get the pack.” Then he was gone. Running back
toward
the fire. No, really, just…
no.
Morgan leapt after him. “Jace, stop!”
“Easy.” The other guy—Louis—had his arms around her. She head-butted him and kept going after Jace. But Jace wasn’t heading back into the flames. He raced around the house. Leaned toward the flames. Sniffed—
Got a scent.
He spun around and stared at her. His whole face seemed to just go blank.
“Something you need to tell me, princess?” He murmured, voice a silken threat. The fire raged behind him. They were at the edge of the glades. No neighbors to see the flames and call 9-1-1.