“Soulmate!” Andre called.
Spell broken.
I scrambled away from the devil. “No.”
He stood and extended a hand towards me. “I can take you from this place. It doesn’t have to be painful.” Because pain was what everything boiled down to in the devil’s eyes.
I stared at his hand like it was an asp poised to strike. “You’ve never extended me that courtesy in the past,” I said, “so why should I believe you now?”
“I want you with me. It is as simple as that.”
“I will never go with you willingly.”
Slowly the devil retracted his hand. He stared at me for a long moment. Long enough for me to feel awed—if not frightened—by his presence. Long enough to feel that inexplicable pull towards him once again.
Finally he inclined his head. “So be it. I’ll be seeing you soon, consort.”
A powerful gust of wind shook the trees and blew away the devil’s form.
The last thing I saw were his almond-shaped eyes, and then they too dissolved into the night.
I was still catching my breath when Andre found me.
“Soulmate.” He was at my side in an instant. He ran his hands over me, I’m sure to see if I’d hurt myself from the fall. “What’s wrong?”
I swallowed down my renewed fear. “The devil found me.” Yet again. At this point he and I were practically biffles. Now all we needed to do was braid each other’s hair and make friendship bracelets.
Andre’s brows furrowed. He leaned in and ran his knuckles down my cheek. “Are you okay?” He watched me with such unbearable sadness.
I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. With him so close, it was easy to pretend the nightmares away. I nodded, opening my eyes. “Now I am.”
Perhaps it was the way I said the words or the way I looked at him when I spoke.
The reserve in Andre’s eyes dropped away, and something too big for words replaced it. Desire. Love. Compassion. None came close to everything I saw in those eyes. He looked as though he wanted to devour me with his touch alone.
A distant howl shattered the moment. Andre’s head snapped to the sound. His nostril’s flared, and I could see his pupils dilate.
“Where are we?”
His mouth was a grim line as he glanced around. “An enchanted forest. Germany, if I had to guess.” He held his hand to me. “We need to move.”
My sluggish pulse picked up. “Enchanted?” I took his hand.
Before he could reply, another howl broke through the silence of the night, this one closer.
“Time to run, love.” He gave my hand a nice tug, and then we were off, running through the trees.
My heartbeat sped up at both the exertion and the endearment.
Another howl joined the first.
“Please tell me that was just your normal, furry wolf,” I said.
Andre shook his head.
Damn.
“Where are we going?” I asked, jumping over a fallen log.
“Away.”
Not going to lie, that sounded like a decent game plan to me.
As we ran, I took in the subtle glow of the forest. I’d gotten used to my night vision, but after Andre brought me back from the edge of death by feeding me his blood, my own transformation into a vampire had sped up. And right now it made the night dance with all sorts of light.
It barely made up for the bitch of a headache bright light now gave me.
“How can they possibly know we’re here already?” I asked.
“Those that pursue us might not know that we, specifically, are here. Just that there’s an interloper on their land. Werewolves are territorial.”
Behind us, more howls had joined in. They appeared to be moving in our direction.
“Are they gaining on us?” I asked. It sure sounded like it.
“Some are closer than others.”
He hadn’t answered my question. I’d thought that we were heads faster than other beings, but his evasive response made me wonder.
My breath came out in ragged puffs and my heart staggered out an ill-timed beat.
I caught movement from the corner of my eyes and swiveled my head to the left. I barely had time to say, “Werewolf,” before the massive hellbeast pounced on me.
My fist came up, and I socked the giant wolf in the temple as my skin flared. It barely slowed the creature down.
Andre grabbed the wolf by the back of its neck and threw it against a nearby tree. I heard the sickening thud its head made when it slammed into the trunk.
It collapsed at the foot of the tree, and for one second I thought the creature was dead. It looked too still. Then I heard it snuffle.
The siren pushed her way to the surface. Not for the first time I found it ironic that she, the cursed part of me that feasted on danger and lust, always came to my rescue.
Andre stalked over to the creature just as the werewolf shook its head, like it was trying to clear its mind. He used the creature’s confusion to grab its head. I could already tell by Andre’s coiled muscles and his well-placed grip that he intended to kill it. The wolf began growling and snapping again, as if aware of how close to death it was.
The siren in me schemed; the human in me recoiled from the needless bloodshed. Neither wanted the werewolf to die.
“Wait,” I said, glamour weaving into my voice.
Instantly Andre’s movements halted, and the werewolf chuffed, its lips curling back and then relaxing, like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. I didn’t know how much of its mind was human and how much was beast, but I needed it to listen to me.
“Change back into your human form,” the siren in my voice commanded.
The wolf whimpered, its body shaking. I could feel Andre’s eyes on me, and slowly he relinquished his hold on the wolf.
“Change back into your human form,” I repeated.
Andre came to stand next to me. “Reversing the transformation might not be possible this close to the full moon.”
At the sound of my soulmate’s voice, my fangs descended. I turned to him, my eyes locking on his neck. No pulse thudded there, but I could practically taste his blood already. And if he bit me …