I was like that. So desperate to live.
Jane took a step toward him.
The black wolf spun to confront her, snarling.
Jane lifted her hands. “Easy.”
The black wolf stalked toward her—no, Aidan stalked toward her. Jane didn’t retreat. She locked her knees and stood before him.
Behind him, Quint Laurel wasn’t struggling to breathe any longer. He was sprawled on the ground, his body spread before a crypt, slashed and broken, just as he’d left his victims.
“Jane, get away from him!”
Her head jerked to the right. She saw Vincent running toward her. Annette was right behind him. Jane blinked. How had those two gotten together? “I kept the blood down,” she whispered. She should be revolted. She was but…
But I’m in control now. I can think semi-clearly. And I don’t want to hurt Aidan.
So she didn’t run…running would have just made his hunting instincts even stronger. If she ran, he’d attack. He was moving toward her so slowly. His head was low to the ground, his body tense.
“Aidan.” Jane said his name with longing. “Aidan, I’m so sorry.”
He stilled.
“I didn’t want it to be this way. I wanted to stay with you, always.” She couldn’t look away from his eyes. A man’s eyes in the face of a beast. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Do you want to hurt me? Are you thinking about ripping out my throat, just as you did to Quint Laurel?
“Jane.” Annette called her name sharply. “Jane, are you in control?”
She nodded.
“How is she in control?” Annette demanded. “Vincent, what is happening?”
“She fed.” He’d stopped a few feet away. Aidan’s head swung between Jane and Vincent. “But you didn’t kill, did you, Jane?” Vincent sounded proud. “You pulled back. You didn’t let the darkness out.”
She felt full of darkness right then. Darkness and pain and…power. It pulsed just beneath her skin.
“Her eyes glow like a wolf’s,” Annette said. “How is that possible?”
A low growl shook Aidan’s body. His focus was now completely on Vincent. Uh, oh. “He’s going to kill you,” Jane said softly. “You need to take Annette and you need to get out of here.”
“I won’t leave you,” Vincent yelled back. “I can take you both away from here. He won’t hurt you—”
“I don’t want to leave him.” That truth went straight to her soul. “I always just wanted…to be with Aidan.” And she would be with him, until the end. “I’m sorry,” she said to Aidan once more. They both knew how this story would end.
Monsters didn’t get happy endings, no matter what they wanted to pretend. It just wasn’t in the cards for them. “Go,” Jane said to Vincent and Annette. The mark on her side—that stupid burn she’d carried for so long—seemed to ache.
Vincent looped his arms around Annette. They vanished. And Aidan…he turned his glowing eyes back on Jane. She sagged to her knees. A tired smile curved her lips. Aidan crept closer to her. She lifted her arms. “Can I see you as a man? Just once more?”
The wolf stilled.
“While I enjoy your beast,” Jane murmured, “it’s the man I love. I want to see him again. Can I see him again? Please? Just once more?”
And…the wolf lowered its head. The beast’s body shuddered. He gave a pain-filled, desperate cry, one that chilled her already cold skin. The fur slid away from him, seemed to melt. Strong, muscled flesh appeared. Claws vanished and Aidan’s hands were pressed to the ground. She saw his wonderful, thick hair. And when he tilted back his head to look at her…a trembling smile curved Jane’s lips. “Hello, Aidan.”
He rose, not speaking.
Probably because he was trying not to kill her and battling his primal instincts took all of his energy.
“I have control right now,” Jane said. “I-I don’t know how long it will last, but…but I feel in control. Do you?”
He still didn’t speak, but he did take a step toward her.
“I remember trying to breathe at Tulane. Gasping. Vincent…” She remembered his hand on her throat. Jane swallowed. “One minute, I was on that campus, then suddenly, I was in that alley outside of the ME’s building. Smoke was all around. You were there. I-I bit you, and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He was back in the body of a man, but his voice was definitely still beast-like.
He reached out to her. Jane didn’t flinch. She didn’t try to run. She just…knelt there. Waiting. She’d had a choice to make.
Now he had to make a choice, too. Kill me. Or love me.
“You…still smell like you’re mine,” Aidan rasped.
She wouldn’t cry. “And you still look like you’re mine. My werewolf. My Aidan.” She rose to her feet and stood on her toes. When he didn’t attack, Jane pressed her lips to his. “I wish we’d had forever.”
“I do, too.” He pulled her against him and held her tight.
She heard the rustle of footsteps behind her. Too late.
Aidan…he was distracting me. He was—