He wanted her to go with him? Rose shook her head. “No, thank you.”
His face hardened. “I know you don’t have a reason to trust me, but I’m not here to hurt you. Your enemies are closing in, love. My job is to keep you safe. Consider me your paranormal protection.”
Her gaze drifted down his chest. “They…shot you.”
“With vamp tranq. Dumbasses. That was their cock up.”
Cock up. Mistake. Right. Sometimes, he used some old British slang. She used to find it cute, charming—
No. Rose slammed the door on their past. That door had to stay shut, if she was supposed to keep her sanity in place.
His hand still reached toward her. “I want this to be your choice. I need it to be.”
She blinked.
“Come with me. Trust me. Right now.”
But she couldn’t. After everything that had happened between them, maybe because of everything, she couldn’t. Sometimes, there was just too much blood and pain and death for trust. “Stay away from me.” She kept her back to the wall as she edged toward the mouth of the alley.
“Rose…You need me.” Frustration cracked in his voice.
Every time they were together, things just ended in pain. Or her death. “Stay away.” Then she gave up trying to creep out of his sight. She turned and ran, heading for escape like the desperate woman that she was.
Two vampire hunters had come for her? Who’d sent them? The government? No way would she become Uncle Sam’s prisoner again. She wouldn’t be anyone’s prisoner. And trusting Julian? No, not possible.
Not with the dark truths she’d learned about him.
Julian Craig wasn’t some hero. He was as far from a white knight as it was possible to be. He was darkness. He was death. He was the monster that she should have feared from the very beginning.
Her high heels clicked as she ran for the parking lot. She didn’t hear Julian behind her, but then, he was too good to make a sound. He hunted like the deadly panther that he was.
And his victim never saw him coming, not until it was too late. By then, his claws would be at his prey’s throat and there would never be a chance to scream.
Her breath heaved from her lungs and she used her vamp super-speed to get her ass away from that alley. Thanks to Julian’s blood, she could move that fast again, but the speed wouldn’t last without more blood. She needed to hurry and put some serious distance between herself and him.
And…
She knew just how to get that distance because Rose had just spotted a familiar blond figure. Her intended prey before Julian had appeared and tried to ruin her night. The blond man from the club was just climbing into the front of his dark SUV. She rushed to the side of the vehicle and grabbed the door before he could close it. “I need a ride.” Her voice came out breathless and a little too high-pitched. Hardly the controlled vamp.
The blond blinked at her. “You…wait…what?”
She risked a glance over her shoulder and—shit—Julian was stalking out of the alley. He looked pissed. “I need a ride really, really badly.” She tried to inject power into her voice as she said, “You’re going to give me a ride.” The compulsion had better work. She’d gotten that temporary power boost from Julian’s blood, so it should work but…
The man blinked. “Uh, you want to get in the car?”
“Absolutely!” She took those stumbling words for an invitation and raced to the other side of the vehicle. She hopped in—
“Rose!” That deep bellow came from Julian. Oh, hell. He was running for her.
“What’s your name?” Rose demanded of the blond as she reached over and took the keys from him. She cranked the SUV.
“Simon. Simon Lorne.”
“Wonderful. Great, look, Simon, you need to get us out of here.” Julian was almost at the SUV. “Now.”
He shoved down the gas pedal and they tore out of the parking lot. As they fish-tailed out of there, she heard a long metallic groan, and Rose looked back, frantic, to see that Julian was right behind them. He scratched the SUV. He was that close—close enough to claw the side of the vehicle.
“Faster,” she urged Simon. “You need to drive one hell of a lot faster.” Because she knew the panther would be giving chase.
Simon didn’t argue. Maybe her compulsion power was just working extra well. He got them away from the club and they hurtled down the little two-lane highway. Her heart was about to burst from her chest, and Rose kept looking back, terrified that she’d see a panther’s golden eyes staring at her.
But he wasn’t there.
“You…having some trouble with your boyfriend?”
“He isn’t my boyfriend.” Okay, so he had been once. A long time ago. “He’s just a problem from my past.” She had quite a few of those. Rose exhaled and forced herself to turn back around and face the front. Slumping in the seat, she said, “Just take the next left. There’s a small motel there. You can drop me off and then just forget you ever met me.” His world would be much safer once he forgot her.