“Love, you’ve been around humans for so long that you’ve forgotten just how strong others paranormals can be.”
Rose’s chin notched up. “Not like that whole forced close-proximity to humans bit was my choice.” None of the madness ever had been—that was the problem. “I didn’t ask to get kidnapped by some covert government group and tossed in a cage.” But that was exactly what had happened to her. She’d spent the last few months in hell. Oh, sure, the government had a cool name for the group that had taken her—Operation Night Switch. And the group had liked to peddle some BS about using paranormals to make the world a better, safer place.
But she’d seen nothing better. She’d just learned more about betrayal and pain. Because that twisted group that had kept her for so long? The bastards who’d starved her and tortured her as they tried to turn her into the perfect weapon for Uncle Sam? The group had been headed by her own brother.
A brother who was now dead. The last of my family…gone. And she’d felt only relief when he died. “I just got my freedom,” she said, her gaze dropping to her wrist. He wasn’t hurting her with his grip. Julian had never physically hurt her. “So why are you so hell-bent on taking it away?”
“Believe it or not, I’m trying to protect you.”
Not. Her gaze rose to meet his. His golden stare blazed with the power of his panther.
“Consider me your paranormal protection, sweets. I’ve been assigned as your twenty-four, seven bodyguard. My job is to make sure that you don’t wind up in a prison again.”
Being caged again was the last place she intended to be.
“You think I don’t know that you hate being near me?” His voice had gone rougher, and he gave a bitter laugh. “Trust me, I get it. You see me and you see pain.”
That hadn’t always been the case. Once, she’d looked at him and thought she saw her future waiting. But that future was long gone. Now she just had blood and death to look forward to for the next millennia.
Provided, of course, she could manage not to get thrown into another cell.
Since becoming a vampire, she’d learned some bitter lessons.
Lesson One. Trust no one. Absolutely no one. Because even family would turn on you in an instant. You weren’t human any longer, so people tended to treat you like a monster.
Lesson Two. The paranormal world was all about survival of the fittest. The older a paranormal being was, the more powerful he or she was, too. And since Rose was a newbie, she tended to measure up terribly low on the power scale.
“Has the drug worn off?” Julian asked her.
“I’m a little sluggish, but otherwise okay.” She was low on the power scale, but Julian…he was a different beast, literally. He’d been born a paranormal, so he’d been accumulating power since before he could even talk. And the stories she’d heard about him since her transformation…
He’s the right hand of the devil. The instrument of death.
She’d never known him at all.
Rose licked her lips. “Why…why is Simon after me?” A shiver slid over her skin. “Is he connected to Operation Night Switch?”
His jaw hardened. “I think dumbass Simon is just the errand boy for another player on the paranormal scene. His boss is a guy who calls himself the ‘Collector’. My…source told me that the Collector had been using the ONS. Getting their men to help him find certain paranormals, only he had no intention of working with Uncle Sam. The guy wanted these paranormals for his own purposes. He found them, caught them, and locked them away.” His fingers stroked along the inner line of her wrist. “And he wants you now.”
That was so not good. “For his collection.” Because Julian had mentioned that before, back at the crash scene. Before he could speak, she gave a hard shake of her head. “I can’t do that again. I-I can’t be starved and locked away.” Tortured. Tears stung her eyes so she blinked them away. “It won’t happen.”
“No, it fucking won’t. Because I won’t let it happen.”
She wanted to believe him, but that just led right back to that pesky trust situation between them. Or rather, the whole lack of trust situation.
“I figure the best way to keep you safe is to find the Collector and cut off his head.” He smiled and she saw that his canines looked extra…deadly. His teeth changed when his beast was close. Got a whole lot sharper. Sharper than even her vamp fangs because a panther had a seriously strong bite. “Since the guy is just waiting down at the dock on the Pandora,” Julian added grimly, “that was where I was heading. You know, before you decided to play a little game of Turn-On-The-Beast.”
She hadn’t been playing a game. And she hadn’t been trying to turn him on. “This Collector…he has others trapped.” She remembered that part. When she’d first woken after the crash, things had been a bit blurry, but she swore she could remember someone talking about…
A muse?
A witch?