"Kaden, don't move. I'm going to get you out of there."
"No!" He lurched forward, only to be drawn short by the chain linking his collar to the wall. Panic put a chilling, grim light in his gaze. "You can't."
Dread draped her like a shroud, suffocating her last breath of hope. She knew what he was going to say. She didn't want to ask, but the question fell from her lips before she could stop it. "Why not?"
"Because," he said, opening his mouth to reveal two extra-long canines, "I'll kill you."
Chapter Two
Kaden Quinn braced himself for Andrea's reaction. The sight of the stake in her hand put ice cubes in his blood, but whether his reaction was an instinctive one brought about by his new vampire status, or whether it was because he was a Guardian who knew exactly what that pointed shard of wood would do to him, he didn't know.
What he did know was that he'd been here for two weeks, tortured for the first five days and then turned into a vampire on the sixth.
Oh, and he was starving.
Andrea's gorgeous brown eyes glistened with tears. "No," she rasped, shaking her head so hard her ebony hair slapped her pale cheeks. "Those bastards."
Her curses echoed through the chamber as she worked the slide-lock on the cell door. She was going to kill him. The knowledge should have comforted him. Upon becoming a Guardian, every Aegi swore that they would never allow themselves to be turned into any kind of monster -- not vampire, were-beast, or demon. If you had to take your own life in order to uphold that vow, you did it.
Kaden hadn't been able to make good on his promise -- he'd been knocked unconscious during the battle, and by the time he came to, it was too late. He'd awakened to find himself hanging from hooks outside this very cell. The physical torture hadn't been nearly as bad as the mental torture. The alpha vamp, an ugly bastard named Cedric, kept threatening to turn him. When Cedric finally latched onto Kaden's throat and began to drink, Kaden had prayed for death. The alternative had been too horrible to imagine.
Then his nightmarish imaginings had warped into reality when Cedric opened a vein in his own wrist and, while another vamp held Kaden's mouth open, forced him to swallow Cedric's blood, activating the turn.
Kaden had drifted into blackness. When he'd come to the next night, his heart no longer beat.
He'd expected to feel different, as if getting dead and sprouting fangs would turn him into an insane, evil beast.
But nothing had changed. He still...felt. He still thought Andrea was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He still hated vampires. Oh, sure, his senses were more acute and the sound of Andrea's blood rushing through her veins was making his mouth water, but he felt like he could handle being with her.
He'd warned her anyway, because what if he was wrong? What if she got close and he jumped on her, ripped into her neck, and let that sweet lifeblood pour down his throat? Anticipation spiked, and lust stirred his sluggish body. While he drank, he'd take her, would fist his hands in her thick black locks and pump into her until she begged for mercy--
"...uh, Kaden?"
He blinked, realized he'd been caught up in that crazy fantasy. Shit. He was freaking starving. The vampires hadn't fed him, but he'd had to watch when they brought unwilling humans to the basement to feed. He'd been horrified, yet at the same time, he'd also been overtaken by cravings and fascinated in a way that filled him with disgust.
Andrea was inside the cell now, crouching, the stake at her side. He eyed it warily.
"Sorry. I was just..." Thinking about sinking my shiny new set of fangs into you. Cursing, he shoved his fingers through his hair. "Look, it's not safe for you here. Get your team out."
"The place is empty. I think they knew we were coming."
Adrenaline screamed through him in a stinging, hot rush that couldn't have jacked him up more if he'd shot it directly into his veins.
"It's a trap." He leaped to his feet, startling Andrea to hers. "Get out."
"I can't just...leave you." Her voice broke, and his heart along with it.
She'd faced an awful choice the day her parents died -- stay, fight, and die...or flee, leaving them behind to perish. Her decision had been made when her father ordered her to save her sister -- who had died anyway, leaving Andrea with a lifetime of regret.
She shouldn't have to make a similar choice now, but it was much too late for that.
His eyes latched onto the stake. He should tell her to kill him. He was a monster. An abomination.
But he didn't want to die.
"Andrea, you're a Guardian. You're tougher than this. You need to go."