Annette’s stare jerked to the gold bracelets. Oh, shit. We are all so screwed.
“He was talking plenty,” Lena murmured. “Telling us how he hated paranormals. How he wanted us all to die. He came to New Orleans with those silver bullets to take out paranormals. He won’t stop until we’re all dead.”
Vincent nodded, looking satisfied. “See? That’s why it just makes sense for me to kill the bastard right now.”
Drew frantically shook his head. More grunts and moans came from behind his sealed lips.
“After all…if I don’t end him, he’ll just attack Jane and Aidan again. They’re your friends.” Vincent appeared pained. “You don’t want your friends to die, do you?”
Her throat had gone desert dry. “No, no, I don’t want them to die.”
And she didn’t want to die, either. So Annette was going to have to play these next few moments very, very carefully…
Because she’d just realized she was standing in the room with a devil.
***
Darkness was choking him. His head throbbed, his heart raced, and a ravenous hunger for blood had his whole body aching.
She was in front of him. The beautiful woman with the dark hair and the deep eyes. The one that he looked at and just knew…
She’s mine.
She was crying and that was wrong. His hand lifted and he caught one of her tears on his claw.
“Aidan, come back to me.”
He was Aidan. He had trouble thinking. Everything was slow and muddied by the dark. And by his hunger. He wanted to attack. To rage. To destroy.
But the woman was there.
And she was his.
The scent of her fear was still heavy in the air. But there was something more there, too. Apples. Lavender.
Those light scents were familiar, just as she was familiar to him. He wanted to pull her close. To hold her. To kill her.
And he wanted to fuck her. Hard and deep. Endlessly. Until she submitted to him, completely, totally.
He wanted to drink her blood and gorge on it. He wanted…
I want to get away from the darkness.
“How can I reach you?” She put her hand on his chest. “You’re not just a wolf. You’re not just a vamp. You’re a man. A good man. That part of you has just been pushed down, deep inside. You weren’t born to the bloodlust.” She rose onto her toes, staring up at him. “I want you back. I’ll have you back.”
Then she was pulling his head down toward her. Her mouth took his in a kiss that was soft and sweet, gentle and searching.
It was all wrong. He didn’t want soft. Didn’t want sweet.
He wanted rough and wild and consuming. That was what his beast demanded. Her sex. Her blood.
Her…life?
No, not her. She’s mine.
She’s…
Jane?
The name was there, whispering through the chaos of his mind. He tried to grab it and hold on to it, hold on to her, but in the next instant, it was gone.
He was gone.
“No.” Her hands clamped tightly around his shoulders, her nails biting into his skin. “I felt you. You were back, just for a moment. You were with me.”
He growled.
“You want me?”
He was on fucking fire for her.
“I want you. My Aidan. My lover. The man who would take any pain to protect me. The man who loves me more than anyone ever has before.” Her breath shuddered out. “Because that’s the way I love him.”
His chest burned.
“I love him…I love you, good and bad. I don’t care about the darkness that you think is taking you over. I can deal with the dark. I can deal with the light. I can deal with everything…” And another tear leaked down her cheek. “Everything but losing you.” She pressed her mouth to his. Her tongue slipped out, licking along his lips, arousing him even more. “I love you.”
Inside of him, there was pain, so much pain. Tearing him apart. Gutting him. The dark was swallowing him whole and the pain was burning his insides but she…
She was still kissing him.
And his need for her pushed past the pain. Another growl tore from him. He caught her hair in his hand and he pulled back her head, giving him better access to her sweet mouth. His tongue thrust inside. He took and took and…
She gave.
There was such terrible pain but she felt right. Good.
And he wasn’t going to let her go.
***
Annette schooled her expression as she stared at Vincent. “I need to get back to Paris.”
A hard banging seemed to suddenly echo through the building. She jumped and her gaze flew behind her.
The banging—the knocking—came again.
Someone’s here, at the door. Someone wants inside this hell-forsaken club.
“Lena,” Vincent snapped. “See who the hell that is.”