CYNTHIA EDEN
Contents
Her dead lover stood on the other side of the bar, rubbing his hand against the back of some long-legged redhead and looking very much alive.
Sadie James drew in a deep breath. Caught the scent of smoke. Expensive perfume. Sweat.
I went to that jerk’s funeral. Cried over his grave.
A grave he didn’t seem to be occupying.
She’d even taken flowers to the graveside.
The redhead laughed. Tossed back her head. The man turned, braced his hand against the wall behind her head and leaned in even closer to her.
Rage had Sadie’s back teeth grinding together.
She stalked across the bar, elbowing dancing men and women out of her way. Her fingers curled, and a hard fury tightened her body.
Two years. For two damn years she’d thought he was dead. While he was out there screwing redheads. Redheads who wore really trashy pink dresses.
He was bent over the woman, his mouth poised over her throat.
Sadie was going to rip the bastard apart.
The redhead laughed. A high, tipsy giggle.
Sadie growled.
Even though she was still at least ten feet away, and the music blaring from the band jumping on stage was earsplitting, Liam Sullivan stiffened. His dark head snapped up. He spun around, scanning the crowd.
His eyes, too damn blue and bright for a dead man, locked on her. She saw his stare widen and his lips began to curve into a smile—
A smile she was going to knock off his still too-handsome face.
“Liam.” A snarl.
The ghost of a smile vanished.
The redhead shifted beside him. “Uh, honey…”
Oh, no, she did not just call him…
He glanced back at the redhead. Touched her cheek. “Give me a minute, Sharon.” The Irish whispered beneath the words, softening the vowels, hardening the consonants. Cagey bastard. Usually, he could all but make the soft rolls of his native Ireland disappear from his speech. The Irish was strong, though, when he was angered or aroused. His fingers curved under the redhead’s chin. “Why don’t you go dance?”
And the chick nodded her head. Walked away without another word.
What the hell? Had the woman never heard of a backbone before?
Sadie stalked toward him. Jabbed one finger into his chest. “Hey, asshole. Long time no see.”
He grunted.
“Tell me, shouldn’t you be…I don’t know, in a grave somewhere?” She’d put him in one, she’d—
“You shouldn’t be here.” Weaker accent now, but the vowels were still soft. His gaze swept behind her. “You need to leave, love.”
Love. Her heart took the hit and her entire body trembled. “I’m not going anywhere.” Not without one hell of an explanation. She’d cried over the bastard. “If you wanted to break up with me, Sullivan, all you had to do was say so.”
The sex had been great between them. Better than great. Wild. And she was the kind of woman who really, really needed wild.
They’d been teamed up on an FBI assignment. He’d been a liaison from Ireland, working secretly with them on a hunt for a global killer. She’d never slept with another agent—she didn’t like mixing her business and her play.
But with Liam…she’d broken all the rules.
Their first date they’d never even made it out of her place. She’d had him naked in less than five minutes. He’d taken her against the wall in her den and had her coming in one.
That had just been the beginning.
He’d been the first human to match her stamina, because matching someone with her unique characteristics was damn hard.
His nostrils flared as he stared down at her. “Sadie, you don’t—” He broke off, and his eyes widened in surprise. “Your scent…”
“Oh, great, you’ve been playing dead for two years and now you want to talk about the way I smell?” Her claws were out now. The fury was too strong. Rage, betrayal.
Dammit, she’d trusted him. The night she’d learned of his death…hell, they’d been planning to meet after his last op. She’d planned to tell him the truth about herself.
She’d never told a human lover the truth before.
But Liam, he’d been different—or so she’d thought.
The lighting in the bar was dim, but she’d never really needed much light to see. His face was just as she’d remembered. Strong, square jaw. Dimple in his chin. Eyes like the skies over his Ireland—so damn blue. Sexy lips, high brow, chiseled cheeks. A nose that had been broken a few times because her Liam hadn’t grown up easy. He’d lived on the streets of Dublin from the time he was eleven until he’d reached seventeen.
His skin looked a bit paler than before. His hair was a little longer. The black locks skimmed his broad shoulders. He wore a battered black, leather coat, a dark shirt, and loose jeans.
The guy was big—way over six feet. She had to tilt her head back a bit to stare up at him. No, to glare up at him.
“I was told everyone on your team died on that last operation.” She should have been on that team. But someone, somewhere, had passed on the word about her relationship with Sullivan and she’d been yanked at the last minute. Reassigned to some bullshit security detail.
When she’d gotten the news about the slaughter—Sadie couldn’t stop the shudder that worked over her body. God, but she could still see those photos—it had been a bloody massacre. One look at those photos, and she’d almost fainted. Because Liam was one of the victims. Or so she’d thought.
Normally, Sadie wasn’t the fainting type. More the kick-ass, make-’em-sorry type, and that was just what she was about to do. Make the Irish devil very sorry that he’d ever been born.
He grabbed her. His hands locked around her shoulders, and he lifted her up onto her tiptoes. “I missed you.”
What? Lying jerk—
Then he kissed her. His lips were firm against hers, slightly cool, and—oh, hell.
Her mouth opened. She gave a little moan when she felt the strong thrust of his tongue. The guy had always been one hell of a kisser. He knew just how to move his lips against hers. Knew just how to use his tongue. Sliding it against hers. Teasing her mouth. Tasting. Sampling. Taking.
A ball of heat in her belly had her rubbing against him. Pushing to get closer. She didn’t want soft and easy, she’d never wanted that.
Hard. Wild—that was the only way she’d take a man.
And Liam, damn his black soul, knew it.
His hands smoothed down her body. Locked on her ass. Squeezed. His erection pushed against her belly. Long and hard. Thick. Oh, she remembered it well.
She remembered too much.
That was the problem.
She tried to pull back, but Liam’s hold didn’t weaken.
Sadie twisted, putting some of her enhanced strength into play. Oh, damn, but the man’s tongue…
His hold tightened.
Too strong. What the hell?
His mouth lifted, just an inch. “Fuckin’ missed you,” he rasped, then captured her lips again.
Ice blasted through her veins. Fuckin’ missed you. He hadn’t looked like he was missing her when he’d been all over the redhead.
Bastard.
Sadie purred, a low, rumbling sound.
And bit him.
The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth.
Liam’s head jerked up. He stared down at her, and his eyes, the beautiful eyes she’d seen in her dreams for so long, flickered sickeningly from blue to black.
Shit.
Not playing anymore, she shoved against him and managed to break free of his hold. Stumbling back, she lifted her hand to her mouth and shook her head, struggling to deny the truth that was staring her right in the face.
No, not Liam.
He licked away the drops of blood on his lips. “A ghrá, you do know what I like.” A ghrá. One of his Irish endearments—one that used to make her heart leap, but now had her tensing.
Liam smiled at her, but it wasn’t the boyish smile of the man she’d known.
It was a hard grin. One that showed the sharp points of his too long canines.
Her nostrils flared. Scents assaulted her. The same smoke she’d smelled before. The alcohol.
Liam. The crisp scent of an ocean. The sweet fragrance of clovers.
Ireland.
He didn’t smell like decay or death.
Impossible.
But his eyes were black and his teeth, they were too long.
Sadness filled her. She knew his type. Knew what drove them. So much darkness.
Liam was lost to her. His kind lived for terror and fear.
True monsters.
She’d never thought she’d have to do it, but it looked like she might have to kill her ex-lover.
Hell. Could she do it? A tremble shook her body, and, for an instant, she didn’t see his face.
No, she saw the pale face and shining eyes of Jasmine. Her friend smiled, and blood trickled down her neck.
Sadie blinked, and Jasmine was gone, but Liam, a new Liam, still stood before her.
“Somethin’ you should know, Sadie.” His brogue thickened, deliberately, she knew. “I didnae exactly survive that ambush…”
Her hand lifted. Traced the line of his cheek. “I know.” Soft. “And I hope you understand…”
A line appeared between his brows. “Understand?”
She knew her smile was broken. Her hand dropped. Do it. Don’t think. She reached for a nearby chair. Lifted it and shattered the wood in a blink.
“Sadie—”
Her kind moved fast, always had. Her right hand locked around the broken chair leg. She raised her hand, preparing to plunge her makeshift weapon into his heart. “I’m not killing you—I’m killing what you’ve become.”
His black eyes widened.
Vampire.
Sadie drove her stake straight toward his heart.
I’m sorry, Liam.
He reacted too slowly. Liam swore, trying to twist back, but he was trapped against the wall.
The wood drove into his chest. He grabbed her wrist, holding tight, fingers clenching around the delicate bones.
Sadie James was a hell of lot stronger than she looked. Her golden eyes were determined, but her mouth, that sweet, beautiful red mouth quivered.
He could feel his blood rushing out. Soaking his shirt front. There were screams around them. Folks had turned at the sound of the shattering chair.
The wood was in his chest, about an inch and a half deep. But it wasn’t in his heart. He’d managed to turn just enough—
“She’s killing him! Oh, my God, that crazy bitch is killing him!”
He knew the voice. Susie. Sharon. He couldn’t exactly remember the redhead’s name. She was the one screaming, but she didn’t seem to realize that the bar she was in…well, it wasn’t exactly normal.
Folks there weren’t going to lose any sleep over another vampire getting staked. Hell, he could see the faces of the other vamps in the bar. Smiling bastards. They were afraid to take him on, but they were sure happy to let someone else take a stab at him. Or a stake, to him.
“Love, I don’t want to hurt you.” Truer words he’d never spoken. But Liam had already died once, found the whole experience to be a damn nightmare, and he didn’t plan on passing over again.
He could break her wrist. Snap it easily. And if he had to, he would.
The trembling lips rose into a grimace. “Hurt. That’s all vampires do. They hurt, they torture, and they kill.”
Pretty accurate—for most vampires. “I’m not like that.” The stake was digging deeper into his flesh. Not a killing wound, but it still burned—and his kind didn’t do so well with blood loss.
He could see the doubt in her eyes.
Fine. His teeth clenched. So be it.
Liam snarled—and attacked.
He lunged forward, and the stake drove deeper into his chest.
Sadie stumbled back and her hand finally, finally, fell away from the stake when she tripped over the remains of the chair and tumbled onto the floor.
He stared down at her. Beautiful Sadie.
Soft locks of blond hair fell around her heart-shaped face. Her mysterious eyes glared up at him.
His hand lifted. He grabbed the end of the stake. Yanked it out. Felt the rough splash of blood.
A choked cry. For an instant, his eyes lifted and met the redhead’s shocked stare. She looked like she was going to pass out. Instead, she turned and ran, as fast as she could.
The band kept playing.
He tossed the stake onto the table. “That hurt, Sadie.”
She barred her teeth at him. Teeth that were too sharp for a human’s. Why hadn’t he noticed that before? “It was supposed to.”
His head cocked. Sadie. He’d wanted her from the first minute he saw her. Petite, curvy, with that come-hither smile and those fuck-me heels she liked to wear.
Most of the men in his unit had fantasized about her. There was just something about Sadie James.
Something stirring. Something untamed.
A fire, a passion that he’d never seen before—or since.
His gaze slid over her. She hadn’t changed much. Her hair was a little shorter. Maybe she was a bit thinner. He didn’t like that. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. She still had great breasts—full and high. But her hips weren’t as curved, dammit. He’d sure liked her lush hips.
His stare skated back to her face. Such a lovely face. Wide eyes. So golden. A straight, sharp little nose. High cheeks.
A beauty, no denying it.
One that had nearly taken his heart. Then, and now.
“Ah, love…” Because she had been. He shook his head and felt real regret as he stared down at her. “You made me lose my meal.” And his fuck, but they’d get to that, later.
Her brows rose. “Tough shit, vampire.” In a flash, she’d bounded to her feet.
Fast. Too fast.
Just as her teeth were a bit too sharp.
His nostrils flared. Her scent surrounded him. The wild scent of a forest. The rich scent of woman.
Odd. Humans usually smelled like food to him. Blood and sex.
But Sadie—there was a heavy fragrance that clung to her. A deep scent. Heady.
His cock tightened.
He’d wanted her like mad when he was a human, and, being a vampire hadn’t made the desire lessen.
It had just made the hunger more dangerous.
“I cried for you.” The words seemed ripped from her. Her hands were clenched. Her small body taut.
The heart many humans foolishly believed didn’t beat inside of him began to thunder against his chest. His hand lifted. The back of his fingers brushed over her cheek.
Soft. So fucking soft.
“Sadie, soon you’ll bleed for me.” A promise.
Sadie wasn’t getting away from him.
Besides, the woman had tried to kill him. She owed him. Blood, sex, everything.
She blinked. Shook her head. Blond strands of hair bounced against her shoulder. “I’m not your prey, vamp.”
Vamp. “Liam.” He said his name deliberately. Just how much did Sadie know about his kind? She knew how to kill them, obviously. When he’d known her before, he’d thought she was a human, just like him.
One who didn’t know about the true darkness waiting just behind the closed doors of the world.
She caught his wrist. Jerked his hand away from her face. “Don’t touch me. You lost that privilege a long time ago.”
The anger inside began to boil. “You’re playin’ with fire.” The last warning he’d give her.
Liam figured he’d been a pretty good sport so far. He’d let her attack him. Nearly stake him. He’d even let the sexy blond eat his head off with her insults.
But enough, well, was enough. The wound in his chest was slowly closing, but his shirt was soaked with blood. He needed to drink soon, and he hadn’t been kidding when he said Sadie would be giving him her blood.
In the next two minutes, he planned to have her pinned against the wall, her soft body pressed to his, his teeth piercing her pale throat.
He could hardly wait to taste her blood on his tongue.
“I’m not afraid of fire, asshole.” That chin of hers lifted. Stubborn. She’d always been stubborn—and there hadn’t been much that Sadie had feared.
But, that had been before…
She cast a disgusted glance over his body. “And I sure as hell am not afraid of you.” She spun around, took a step away from him. “See you later, vamp—”
Liam grabbed her. Jerked her back and shoved her against the wall of the bar. He leaned over her. Pushed his weight against her and trapped her against the wall—just as he’d planned. Her breath panted out. She twisted, snarled, but she didn’t break his hold.
Sadie was strong, but he was stronger. “I told you, already, you made me lose my prey.” His head lowered. His mouth hovered over her throat. His teeth were burning, stretching. The already sharp canines elongated in preparation for that sweet bite. “Now, I’m going to have to take you.” His mouth opened. His tongue swiped over her flesh.
Fucking delicious. Tangy.
His cock was rock hard. His teeth were ready.
Time to take a bite.
She shook against him. A small tremble. His lips widened. Teeth pressed right over her pounding pulse.
And her claws—damn claws—dug into the bloody mess that was his chest. “Not so fast, vampire.”
His head lifted. He gazed into her eyes. Eyes that were shining, no, glowing, with some kind of bright light.
His breath heaved out. “Well, well…” Looked like he wasn’t the only one who’d taken a walk in the Other world.
Sadie James, the best lover of his life, the beautiful dream he’d held in the darkness of his heart, wasn’t human.
She bared her fangs and growled.
He smiled.
Then Liam ignored the fiery pain of those wicked claws. He moved fast, ducking his head and sinking his teeth into the side of her throat.
It wasn’t supposed to feel good. A vampire’s bite was a degradation. An unforgivable crime against her kind. Blood was sacred. Blood was power.
No, a vampire’s bite wasn’t supposed to feel good, and his didn’t feel good—it felt damn amazing.
Sadie gasped as a hot pulse of lust and hunger shot through her. Her breasts ached. Her sex tightened.
And, humbling as all hell, she found herself arching her throat and offering herself to him.
If her brother had seen her, he would have roared his fury.
Thankfully, Jacob wasn’t around—and Liam was.
She didn’t remember taking her claws out of his chest, but her hands were now curled around the strong width of his shoulders. Holding him tight, pulling him closer.
Sadie could feel his tongue. The press of his lips. The hard bulge of his cock.
Voices buzzed around her. Music. Scents. She ignored them, closing her eyes to the sight of the bar.
She’d been a fighter all her life. It was all she’d known.
But for once, she was tempted to just be…taken.
Taken.
The word echoed in her mind and had her lashes snapping open.
Taken—the name for the vampires who were converted. No, no, what was she doing? She wasn’t some drugged vamp slut. She was a shifter—the strongest of the Other.
“No!” Husky. Not nearly loud enough. Get a grip, girl. You know vamps don’t stop with a sweet “please.”
She clenched her teeth. This was gonna hurt.
Sadie shoved him back a good two feet. His teeth raked over her throat, leaving a trail of fire.
“What the hell?” He swiped his hand over his mouth, wiping away her blood, and she almost slugged the jerk.
Drinking without permission. Vamps always thought the world was their damn drive-in restaurant.
She put her hand to her throat. Shit, it hurt. Another sin for Sullivan. “What do I look like?” she demanded. “A buffet?”
His eyes, still the soulless black of a vampire in hunting mode, swept down her body. “Love, you know how I like to eat—”
She caught the scent then. The wild fragrance of the animal. Fur. Fury.
Sadie shoved around Liam. Her eyes scanned the bar.
Business. Hell, she’d almost forgotten why she’d come into this little shithole of a vampire feeding room, er, bar in the first place.
She had a case to solve. One of her kind had gone rogue. Two bodies had turned up in Miami within the last month. Nearly ripped to freaking shreds.
Her boss in the Bureau had thought that a vamp was behind the slaughter, but one look at the claw marks and Sadie had known that she was after a leopard.
After someone just like her.
Someone who was in the bar right then.
Her kind could always smell other shifters. Her too-sensitive nose was the perfect homing device.
Her gaze tracked to the left. Followed the scent. Saw the man. Tall, sleekly muscled. Long, blond hair. He caught her stare, lifted a brow, and smiled.
A smile that chilled the blood in her veins.
A vampire lover and a shifter gone bad. Her luck so sucked.
The jerk across the bar lifted his hand and crooked his finger.
Her muscles quivered. Time to give that jerk an ass kicking.
“Who the fuck is he?” The rumbling demand came from Liam. The Irish was heavy in his voice again, blending perfectly with the rage.
She didn’t glance his way. The shifter had caught sight of Liam, not a very hard task. The blond’s eyes were narrowed, his head cocked.
“The new lover?”
Not likely. Her nose twitched, catching the heavy odor of blood. There was so much blood in the bar now. It was a scent her kind enjoyed too much.
A scent that she’d known would draw the killer.
“Stay out of my way, vampire.” Her turn to give the warning. “I’m going to—”
Too late. The shifter spun around, pushing his way back toward the door.
Not that easy.
Sadie raced after him. Three weeks worth of tracking wasn’t about to go down the drain just because she’d gotten a brief case of lust-induced insanity.
Lust…for a damned vampire!
When Sadie bolted away as if level ten demons were after her—level tens being the absolute strongest and baddest of the demon assholes who strolled the earth—Liam followed right on her heels.
He could still taste her blood on his tongue. Sweet but tangy. Absolutely delicious.
Different from a human’s. He’d known that fact from the first sip. He’d gotten a staggering rush of power and a hit of stark hunger from the precious liquid.
So the rumors were true.
The blood of a shifter was much, much stronger than a human’s. And his Sadie, he’d bet his undead life she was a shifter.
The glowing eyes. The claws. The teeth.
That sweet little purr she’d made when he’d had her against the wall and her body had gone all soft against his.
Damn, but he’d wanted to fuck her.
Now, she was chasing after someone else. Another man. One who smelled like some kind of wet animal.
His teeth snapped together. Not the way the night was going to end for Sadie.
She was fast. Leaping and running so quickly that he struggled to keep up with her. In and out of the shadows. Around the corners of buildings. Over cars. Out of alleys.
Make that damn fast.
Shifter.
How had he missed that? What other secrets had Sadie kept from him?
Just then, she zipped between two parked cars and headed into the darkness of an abandoned lot.
Good thing her blood was pumping through him. He leapt over the cars. Charged into the woods at the back—
And found Sadie facing off against a crouching leopard. A right ugly beast—matted fur, yellow, spotted, and with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
Fuck me.
“Get back, Liam! The bastard’s shifted—”
Yeah, he could see that for himself. But no damn way was he about to back off. Liam Sullivan had never run from anything before.
Well, except from her.
The leopard sprang forward, launching an attack right at Sadie. They crashed onto the ground. The beast’s broad head and snapping teeth went for her throat.
Sadie screamed and managed to hold him off, just barely. His teeth were inches away from her delicate neck.
A neck Liam particularly liked. He shot forward. Grabbed the shifter around the middle, and jerked back with all of his considerable vampire-enhanced strength.
The leopard let out a roar of fury and twisted, swiping his claws at Liam.
Luckily, the big cat missed.
A very near thing.
Liam stepped in front of Sadie. “You want to play, do you? Well, come on…”
Instead of springing forward, the leopard padded back. The animal paused, its body close to the ground. The broad head tilted up, and glittering eyes measured Liam as a long, pink tongue flickered out.
“Not…your…fight…” Sadie’s voice was strangled.
He grunted. Like he would have walked away and left her alone.
“Don’t…watch…” The last of her words ended in a growl.
What?
Don’t watch what? He jerked his gaze away from the leopard, for just a second, and glanced back at Sadie. She’d stripped off her shirt, giving him a truly splendid view of her lacy black bra and those gorgeous breasts that he’d never been able to forget. She was on her knees. Head tossed back, arms up, and—
Her bones began to snap.
Oh, for the love of—
A train hit him, knocking Liam off his feet. No, not a train. A stinking, snarling, teeth-snapping one hundred thirty pound jungle cat.
The beast’s breath choked him. A foul stench. Saliva dripped onto his face, but Liam held the cat back, using a white-knuckled grip around the animal’s throat.
“I’m not…easy prey…”
Liam gathered his strength, then hurled the beast toward the line of trees.
But the damn cat twisted in midair and landed agilely on his feet.
Piss.
Liam rose to his feet, brushing off his hands. Okay, time for another round.
He stepped forward, just as a blur of gold and black fur streaked past him.
Snarls.
Growls.
Claws and teeth.
His mouth dropped open. Two leopards were before him. Muscled bodies moving. Tumbling across the earth. The second cat was smaller, its fur a rich gold dotted with dark circles—rosettes. The cat’s long tail swished behind it—
No, not it. Her.
The second leopard was Sadie.
And she was fighting for her life.
Like he was just going to stand on the sidelines.
He dove into the fray, grappling with the larger leopard, pounding him with his fists, avoiding those dangerous claws as best he could.
They’d take the beast down, together, just like they’d taken down so many other bastards.
His Sadie was a fighter.
And, apparently, a large, spotted cat.
The wail of sirens cut through the air.
The larger leopard’s head rammed into Liam’s chest, knocking him back. Then the cat leapt away from Sadie, shaking his body and swishing his tail.
The sirens screamed. Tires squealed as patrol cars came to a shuddering halt nearby.
The bastard leopard disappeared into the woods. And Sadie tried to go after him.
“Sadie!” The demand was fierce.
Humans were around. Even now Liam could hear people rushing toward them. She couldn’t be seen as a leopard. She had a job. A career with the FBI.
She couldn’t afford to be careless.
She glanced back at him, whiskers twitching.
“Change.” An order.
The leopard bared her teeth, but her ears were up, and he knew that she heard the approaching footsteps, too.
His gaze locked on her as the change began. In seconds, the fur melted away. Bones reshaped. Supple female limbs reappeared. Soon he was staring not at an animal, but at the nude form of a woman.
A woman who had been his for all too short a time.
A woman who was about to be discovered naked by half of the Miami PD.
Liam shrugged out of his jacket and reached for her. “Sadie…” He kissed her. A hard, fast kiss. Lips open, tongues ready. Mouths stayed locked as he wrapped the jacket around her.
“Freeze!” The yell came from less than ten feet away. “Put your hands up and step away from the woman.”
Liam’s mouth lifted. His gaze met hers.
A bullet wouldn’t kill him, but it would make his night suck even more.
Slowly, he raised his hands, but he didn’t step away from Sadie.
“I’m with the FBI,” she said, her voice clear and cool. Her hands fumbled with the jacket, managed to zip up the front. She was such a tiny thing, the heavy leather fell all the way to midthigh. “Agent Sadie James. I’ve been tracking a suspected killer in the city and—”
“Christ, James, save the explanations.” A darker voice, one tinged with a Chicago street accent. “I told them who you were.”
Liam stiffened. No, no bloody way.
Talk about sucking.
He turned slowly, hands still up, but fury boiling his blood. Special Agent Anthony Miller blinked when he saw him. “What? Sullivan.” Surprise, disgust. “Dammit, you were supposed to stay on the other side of the ocean, you bas—”
“You knew!” Sadie stormed past Liam. A few of the cops gasped when they caught full sight of her, clad only in his jacket. Liam couldn’t help it, his gaze dropped to the perfect lines of her legs.
Oh, to take a bite.
“Sadie, you don’t understand!”
She punched the special agent right in the face. He stumbled back, swearing. The uniforms around him lifted their guns and pointed them right at Sadie.
Hell, no. Not an option. “Stand down!” The order was Liam’s. Shouted. “Miller, tell ’em to drop their weapons.” A bullet in the heart or head would kill a shifter. A scenario not about to happen in front of him.
“D-down…” Blood dripped from Miller’s nose. The agent stumbled to his feet and only looked at Sadie’s exposed legs three times.
Liam felt his teeth begin to burn—from the lure of the blood and from his growing fury. He’d wanted to rip out Miller’s throat for a long time.
Ever since the thick bastard had turned his back on Liam and left him struggling with his new life alone, and with the guilt of ten dead men and three dead women on his soul.
Screw the hands-up crap. If they wanted to fire at him, he didn’t care. Right then, he wanted to know just what the hell kind of case Sadie was on and why she’d been tracking that other shifter.
“You let me cry for him—and you knew? You knew?” Her claws were out, and if Miller didn’t watch it, he might be losing some flesh.
His muddy brown eyes swept the circle of armed men and women. “We can’t talk about this here, Agent James. You know better.”
A growl was her answer.
Miller swallowed. “Wh…where’s the suspect?”
She jerked her thumb back toward the waiting darkness. “Long gone. The sirens alerted him, gave him a chance to run.”
His stare narrowed. “The perp got away from both of you?”
“Wasn’t your typical perp,” Liam said blandly. “Something else I don’t think you want us discussin’ here.” Oh, but the smug bastard was due for a serious set down.
Soon.
Miller swore. “Spread out,” he yelled to the cops. Obviously, they thought the wanker was in charge. Fools. “Search the woods. We’re looking for—”
Oh, yeah, this should be good.
“A man in his late twenties,” Sadie interrupted. “Blond hair. Blue eyes. Six-foot-four, two hundred pounds.” A pause. “He’s quite prossibly naked, too.”
Definitely naked. The guy’s torn clothes were less than a foot away. Of course, the shifter could have stashed spare jeans or a shirt somewhere close by. Shifters usually had a backup clothing plan.
“He should be considered armed and very dangerous,” she continued. “Approach with extreme caution.”
“Shoot first.” From Miller. “Not a kill shot, but take the bastard down.”
The cops scrambled to obey. Sadie didn’t move. The wind tossed her hair.
Damn but she was sexy. Soul as hard as nails. Skin as soft as satin.
“You’ve got some explaining to do.” Her hands were on her hips. “You should have told me, you should have—”
“I didn’t know what you were, Agent James, until about five months ago.” His upper lip curled. “You didn’t exactly go around advertising your true self, now, did you?”
Liam didn’t like the tone the guy was—
“If you hadn’t bugged my house, you would have never known.”
Ah, so that was how the Bureau had discovered Sadie’s not-so-little secret. Interesting.
Liam had long known that the Bureau had a special division, a group of agents with particular…gifts. But he hadn’t realized exactly how most of the agents for that unit were recruited.
He should have known the agency would be screwing over its own people.
Big Brother liked to know everything, and use everyone.
“So I didn’t tell you that your ex-lover had turned bloodsucker.”
Liam’s teeth snapped together. “You’re pushin’, Miller.” It wouldn’t take much more to send him over the edge.
“I figured you’d be grateful, after what happened to your friend Jasmine—”
Sadie swayed. Stumbled. “Bastard!” The snarl was directed straight at Miller. “Don’t talk about her, ever. I agreed to stay on with this unit to help—”
Instantly, Miller went from attack mode to kind friend. “You are helping, Sadie,” he murmured, brows lowered. Fake bastard. “Only someone with your talents could work this case. You’re going to catch another killer, keep the streets safe—”
“I didn’t catch anyone tonight.” She shook her head. Looked fragile, as she’d never looked before. “Just let the jerk get away—and tipped him off to the fact that another shifter is hunting him.” Her hand rose and raked back the fall of her hair. “I’m going home. The guy’s long gone tonight. Tomorrow, tomorrow—I’ll start tracking him again.”
She turned away, never once looking at Liam. She headed in the direction of the bar. Her steps were slow, steady.
He watched in silence, willing her to glance back, just once, and look at him.
But soon she disappeared into the shadows and left him with the bastard who’d sent him off to die two years ago.
Miller began to edge back. Cautiously, moving like a snake and—
Liam’s hands flashed out. He grabbed Miller, effectively halting his exit. “Goin’ somewhere?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as the special agent gave a frantic shake of his head.
“I didn’t think so.” Liam stared into those lying eyes. “Who’s Jasmine?”
Miller’s lips thinned.
“Who. Is. Jasmine.” He let the power of the vampire sweep through him. Knew that his voice had deepened. That his eyes had darkened to black.
But it apparently took more than a few theatrics to rattle the special agent. Miller inhaled on a rasp. “You weren’t put on the extermination list, Sullivan. That’s the only favor you’ll be getting from me.”
The extermination list. The list the Bureau kept of the Other who’d gone bad and needed to be eliminated. A harsh laugh broke from his lips. “Let me clue you in, Miller. In the last two years, I’ve learned that famous list of yours? It’s not worth a shit.” The handful of names. The list of paranormals who’d blatantly killed.
Barely scratched the surface of the evil out there.
He leaned in close to the special agent. “And even if you’d sent your men…” His teeth came together on a snap. “They wouldn’t have stopped me.” Less than three months after turning, he’d killed the bastard who’d transformed him and slaughtered his team. A few humans would hardly have slowed him down.
He let his gaze drop to the man’s throat. “I’ll ask once more, and then I’ll stop playin’ so nice.” He smiled. “Who is Jasmine?”
Miller began to shake. Liam knew the truth about the bastard. He wasn’t human, either. Not really. A charmer. A being gifted with the ability to talk to animals.
Liam didn’t know precisely what animal linked with Miller, but he was betting it was a rat.
His hands tightened around the bastard, the enhanced strength easily bruising the flesh, and, if he just applied a dash more pressure, he could break—
“V-vampire killed her. When she was sixteen.” The words rushed out, nearly tumbling over each other. “Jasmine—she was Sadie’s best friend. She died in her arms.”
Well, fuck.
Liam shoved the special agent away from him.
That explained a few things.
Like the way Sadie had come at him with a stake.
What a damn tangled mess. Sadie wouldn’t want to be around him, not knowing what he was. She’d never agree to be with him, unless—
His lips curved.
Miller flinched.
“Tell me about the man Sadie is huntin’ for you.” Not a man, though, he knew that. “Tell me why she’s after him.”
“Th-that’s confidential. Only FBI—”
Liam laughed again. He couldn’t help it. “Right. Save the bullshit for someone else.” Someone who didn’t know the real score.
Miller’s brows raised. “Only if…you agree to help on this one.” More confident. But then, maybe the fear had been a show. Cagey, that was Miller.
Sly jerkoff. “Talk, then we’ll deal.” The way of the world, living and undead.
The agent began to talk—about blood and death, bodies found in trees, and the claw marks of a monster.
And Liam began to plan.
He followed the woman back to her house. He’d transformed, picked up the clothes he’d hidden, and blended in so easily with the humans milling on the streets.
He’d passed right by two uniformed cops and they’d never given him so much as a second glance.
Humans. Not even worth his time most days, but she was different.
A female shifter. A leopard. Someone with his strength. His cunning.
He’d never thought to find a female like her.
So perfect.
He used the wind, knowing exactly how to manipulate the breeze to hide his scent.
And he hunted.
He watched her through the windows of her house. Watched her silhouette. The supple curves. The veil of hair.
He’d been settling for humans, enjoying the prey’s screams, when he could have had…her.
She opened the balcony doors. Let her gaze sweep over the block. Stared right past him.
Leopards were so good at blending in with their surroundings.
She should know that.
Her head tilted back as she glanced toward the sky, exposing the slender column of her throat.
A sign of submission for his kind, from one lover to another.
He purred.
She’d left her balcony doors open. The better to let in the gentle breeze of the night.
And him.
Her back was to the doors when she sensed him. She caught the whiff of the ocean. Heard the faintest rustle of sound.
Sadie had known that he would follow her.
Just as she’d known that she wouldn’t be able to kill him at that bar. She’d missed his heart, not because he’d turned, but because she’d weakened.
Liam.
She hadn’t seen the monster when she’d looked at him, just the man.
And her aim had wavered.
Her head lifted and she moved, very slowly, to face him. “Into scaling buildings these days, are you, vampire?”
He strode forward, looking so sexy and strong that an ache lodged above her heart and heat bloomed between her thighs.
His lips curved into a smile that had her breath catching. “Ah, love, the trellis made it too easy for me.”
Love.
Her gaze dropped to his chest. To the dried blood. “I’m sorry, Liam. I-I shouldn’t have—” tried to kill you “attacked you back at the bar. You just—um, caught me by surprise.” When I saw your teeth, I remembered that other bastard and the way he’d laughed.
Fury, instinct—she’d moved too fast. The stake had been over his heart when she’d glanced into his eyes and seen the stare of her lover.
And she hadn’t been able to kill him.
She was too weak where he was concerned. Always had been.
Liam stepped toward her in a long, smooth glide. “Not the first time an old friend has tried to murder me.”
She blinked. “But I—”
His fingers pressed against her lips. “I’m not the monster you think.”
Vampires are evil. Predators. They live to kill. Live by draining their victims dry and stealing their screams. Even the devil won’t let those bastards in to hell. Her brother’s words, when he’d learned of Jasmine’s death.
“I didn’t choose this life. Didn’t go searching for the exchange.”
Others had. Others had bartered more than souls for the blood-soaked promise of immortality.
His fingers slipped down to cup her cheek. “I spent the day with you, tasting heaven, then when I went on my assignment that night, I found hell.”
She shivered. From his touch. His words. Sadie didn’t know. Didn’t care. “Liam…”
His hand stroked lower, curving over her neck. The wound had already healed. Her kind healed fast—some faster than others, depending on the beasts they carried—and the shift had only sped up the restoration. “We were ambushed,” he told her, voice rasping. “A fuckin’ den of vampires were waitin’ on us. It wasn’t some kind of cult who’d been kidnappin’ and killin’—it was vampires. My team wasn’t ready to face them—there were too damn many.”
Pain was in his words and in the memories she saw in his eyes.
“The leader, I swear, he looked like some twenty-year-old kid.”
Because he’d been the Blood. Jacob had made certain she had a very through vampire education after Jasmine’s death. The Blood were born vampires. They stopped aging in their late teens or twenties and developed a ravenous hunger for blood.
They were the most powerful. Both psychically and physically.
“He sank his teeth into me, but I fought him. Clawing. Shooting. Punching.” He drew in a breath. Because, yeah, vampires still breathed. Their hearts still beat. The Taken, vampires who’d been made, not born, only died for an instant, then their bodies awoke with a flood of power.
And with a desperate hunger for blood.
She wanted to touch him. To hold him. But he wasn’t her Liam anymore, if he’d ever been hers.
The hand against her throat seemed slightly cool, but so strong.
“How did you…” She stopped, cleared her throat and tasted the breeze from the balcony on her tongue. “How did you change?”
His hand fell away. “Wasn’t supposed to. Bastards left me for dead, like they did the rest of my team. All I can figure, I must’ve got some of his blood, the one who attacked me. I shot him to hell. Blood was everywhere.”
Becoming a vampire didn’t really take three exchanges like the movies said. Just one. The victim had to be nearly drained for the transformation to work, but he didn’t need to take much blood from the vampire. A few drops had been known to do the trick.
Vampire blood was powerful. Tainted, Jacob had said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hell, why the whole charade? The funeral? The closed casket? She’d thought the casket had been sealed because the damage to Liam had been so severe. Sadie had heard about the ravaged conditions of the agents’ bodies.
But, no, the casket had been closed because Liam hadn’t been inside at all.
“At first, the Bureau took the choice out of my hands.” Anger simmering. “They’re the ones who found me and threw me in a cell for five days while they tried to decide if I was going to live or die.”
The extermination list.
His smile was grim. “They decided I got to keep livin’, provided I agreed to do the old U.S. government a few favors.”
She didn’t want to ask about those favors, not then, because she knew just what sort of deeds Miller would give to a vampire.
“When I was stable, I did my part.” The faint lines around his eyes tightened. “Then I settled some scores of my own. After that…” A shrug. “Well, let’s just say for a time it was better for me to go back to my Ireland.” And to leave her behind.
“Why are you back now?”
“Because I want to be.”
Okay, not exactly the oh, my God, I missed you and couldn’t spend another day without you response she’d been hoping to get. But, then again, the guy sure as hell hadn’t bothered to look her up the moment he’d come back to town.
An image of the redhead flashed before her. No, he’d been a bit occupied.
She stepped away. “I don’t need this crap now. I’ve got a case—”
“We’ve got a case.”
Hell. That sinking—it was her heart. No way. Her eyes closed for a moment. “Come again?”
The floor squeaked as he crept forward. “Miller thinks you could use some backup on this case.”
So he was gonna send the big, bad vamp to cover her ass. “I don’t need help. I could’ve taken the guy down tonight—”
“But you didn’t.” A calm statement. “And he almost got you, instead.”
Her nostrils flared. “I haven’t worked with a partner since Miller dug into my life and blackmailed me into this unit. I don’t need a—”
“You’ve got a partner now.” His eyes were expressionless. “We worked well together before. Remember, love?”
Forgetting was the problem.
“You need someone to watch your back. Miller told me about the bastard out there. Hunting on your own isn’t the way to handle this.”
But her kind usually hunted alone.
Damn Miller.
And damn Liam—for making her feel so much again.
He offered his hand. “Partners, Sadie?”
Oh, it grated. But she stuck out her hand. He’s not like the others. Her fingers wrapped around his. “Partners.” She met his stare. “For now.”
His hold tightened and Liam pulled her forward. “Sealed with a kiss?” he asked.
She shouldn’t. Damn, but she knew it was a mistake.
And she also knew that she wanted him. Vampire. Man. Didn’t matter. She’d wanted Liam for years.
No other had ever made her feel the way he did. No other had ever come close to satisfying the woman or the beast that lived within her.
So she was the one to lean into him. The one to open her mouth, to have her lips and tongue ready.
Mixing business and pleasure—they’d done it before.
They’d do it again.
His mouth locked onto hers.
The bitch.
He shifted in the darkness, aware of the crunch of leaves beneath his feet.
She was letting that vampire bastard touch her. Kiss her.
A snarl rumbled in his throat.
She’d pay for that. Pay for allowing one of the damned to touch her.
Leopard shifters—they were blessed. Superior.
Not to be touched by fucking bloodsuckers.
She’d pay, but first, he’d get the vampire. He’d killed his share of the undead before. It wouldn’t be too hard.
Then the woman would be his.
The thrill of the hunt flooded his veins.
Sadie was back in his arms, and this time, she wasn’t staking him.
Oh, yeah, this was what he wanted.
His hands were around her waist, fingers pressing just over the sweet curve of her arse. Her breasts were crushed against his chest. Liam could feel the soft stab of her nipples.
Pretty pink nipples. Nipples that tasted like candy.
He’d taste them again.
His mouth fed on hers. Took. Savored. It’d been too long.
She’d been in his dreams for years, and part of him was afraid this was a dream. That he’d awaken without Sadie, as he’d done so many times.
Couldn’t go back to her as a monster. Couldn’t watch the terror on her face.
But Sadie, his Sadie had been hiding secrets.
Not the fearful human he’d expected.
A warrior queen, a shifter.
More than a match for the undead.
His hands rose—he’d come back to that arse later. His fingers caught the edge of the T-shirt she wore. He tore his mouth from hers as he jerked up the shirt.
“Liam…”
The husky whisper of his name had him stilling. No, she couldn’t turn him away.
Her eyes were so damn gold. Deep, and filled with secrets.
Why hadn’t he noticed the secrets before?
He swallowed back the desperation that rose in his throat. He wouldn’t beg her. If she didn’t want his touch, he’d pull away, he’d—
She yanked up his shirt. The garment hit the floor with a faint rustle of sound.
Then she smiled.
And he was lost.
“This time…don’t be easy with me.” Pure seduction dripped from her words. “You know what I am—I don’t need soft touches and candlelight.”
His body was tense. His cock so hard he ached. “What do you need?”
Her hands were on his chest. Smoothing over the muscles and sending a spike of fire to his groin. “You.” She licked her lips. “Fast. Hard. Deep.”
She was going to bring him to his knees.
Her fingers traced over his nipples. “Make me forget,” she whispered the order. “Make me forget everything.”
Forget that he was a vampire?
The stark thought ran through his mind, but he didn’t step away from her. Hell, nothing would have made him leave then.
His gaze dropped to her breasts. No bra. Round. Firm. Tight little nipples. His mouth watered and he just had to get a taste.
His arms wrapped around her. He lifted her, lowering his head and lashing his tongue over her left nipple. Swirling over the areola. Nipping lightly with his teeth.
Her moan filled his ears.
Liam’s mouth widened as he began to suckle.
Even better than I remembered.
Soft flesh. Wild woman. Rich scent of creamy arousal.
After one more hungry swipe of his tongue, Liam managed to lift his head. His teeth were burning. The bloodlust rising with his need.
“Get on the bed.” Guttural.
She wanted fast and hard—oh, but he’d give it to her.
One golden brow rose, but she didn’t move toward the bed. Instead, she looped her fingers in the waist of her shorts—faded, loose shorts that skimmed the tops of her silken thighs—and with a little push, she sent the material dropping to the floor.
Her feet were bare. She lifted one foot, then the other as she stepped out of the shorts. Clad now only in a pair of black bikini panties, she stared at him, hunger gleaming in her eyes.
The bed was five feet away. But if she didn’t move soon, he’d take her where they stood.
“Sadie…” A warning.
One she ignored.
Her hands were on his chest. Soft fingertips smoothing over him. Her scent flooded his nostrils and pushed him to the edge of his control.
Her head lowered. Her breath fanned over his flesh, and her mouth closed over his right nipple.
Oh, fuck.
He shuddered and tried to ignore the bloodlust that burned ever hotter within him. He knew his eyes would be turning, darkening into the black of a hunting vamp.
For prey or for passion…that was when the eyes changed. It had been the first lesson he’d learned.
Her fingers were on his belt. Unhooking the buckle, easing open the snap of his jeans.
Liam had never been the underwear type—not living and not undead. So when Sadie pushed open his jeans, his cock sprang out, ready, standing up, the thick head straining toward her.
She took him, wrapping her hands around him, squeezing tight and—
He grabbed her. Lifted her high, kissed the lips parted in surprise. Drank from her mouth. Fed. And let the hunger rage.
A red haze seemed to cover his eyes. It had been far too long since he’d taken his Sadie. Dreams weren’t enough. Memories were too weak.
He needed the woman, and he needed her now.
They fell onto the bed together. Mouths locked, tongues taking. With one hand, he pinned her wrists to the bed, locking them over her head.
His right hand snaked down her body. Pushed between her thrashing legs and stroked the wet silk of her panties.
She moaned and arched toward him. The drumming sound of her heartbeat filled his ears.
He ripped the silk away from her flesh. Drove two fingers into her sex and felt the tight, strong clasp of her inner muscles around him.
Can’t wait.
He freed her hands. Caught the head of his arousal and guided his cock toward her creamy warmth.
His mouth tore from hers. Liam gazed at her, at the wild tangle of hair, the glowing eyes, the red lips.
Fucking beautiful.
He thrust deep into her, as deep as he could go, and felt the lash of pleasure resonate through him.
Tight. Wet. Hot.
Perfect.
Her legs locked around him and she met him thrust for thrust. Harder. Wilder.
“More!” The demand was from her, echoed by him.
The bed squeaked beneath them. Slid an inch, two, and rammed into the wall.
He took her breasts, bending low over her, licking, kissing, biting.
Her fingers fisted in his hair. “Liam!” A demand.
His head rose. Her breath was ragged, so was his.
His hips drove down, again and again. Her sex clenched around him with a telltale ripple of her sweet muscles.
Her climax was close, bearing down on her.
Faster, faster, he thrust into her. She smiled, then she moaned, and her claws—ah, damn but he could feel the sting of her claws as she pressed him ever closer to her—dug into his hips.
She’d mark him.
He’d mark her.
Her body stiffened. Her face flushed with pleasure. He felt the contractions along his aroused length, the silken caresses as Sadie came beneath him.
Her head tilted back and her lips parted on a hard sigh.
Her throat, long, vulnerable, was bared to him.
His mouth was on her before he even thought. Lips caressing. Tongue stroking.
Release neared for him. The promise of a fiery pleasure. A pleasure to end the cold that had haunted his days and nights for so very long.
His teeth raked over her pulse. He’d tasted her before. The wild honey of her blood.
Liam wanted to taste her again. Just a quick bite, a soft sip—
Sadie rolled him, pushing with her arms and hips so they moved in a tangle of limbs.
Blinking, he looked up. She rose above him, a goddess with eyes of gold. His cock was lodged fully inside her snug depths, her thighs on either side of his hips.
And her throat so far away from his mouth.
“No blood.” She whispered the words as her hips lifted, fell. Lifted. “No…bite. L-like before. Just like—”
His hands clamped around her hips and he surged once more, his climax rocking through him as he seemed to explode inside of her.
And she was with him. Tensing, squeezing, breathing his name as her second release shuddered through her.
His teeth snapped together. He closed his eyes as the ecstasy poured through his body.
Sex with Sadie…fucking amazing.
He emptied into her, satisfaction weighting his limbs.
She was still the best lover he’d ever had.
And the one who could hurt him the most.
She hated what he was, he knew it.
But she needed him, just as he’d always needed her.
Her body curled around his, and she stretched—like a cat. The rumble in her throat could have been a purr.
Why didn’t I see it before? Why?
Maybe if he’d seen, maybe if she’d trusted him enough to tell him her secrets, their lives would have been different.
“This doesn’t change anything.” She whispered the words even as she wrapped her arms around him.
He pressed a kiss to her head. “I know.” But he would find a way to change things between them.
One way or the other he wasn’t going to lose her again.
He planned to keep Sadie with him, forever.
It was the cry that woke her. A rough, choking snarl.
The cry of a leopard. Sadie’s eyes flashed open. A weight was over her chest. Strong, familiar.
Liam.
A roar echoed.
Christ, the leopard, he was close—too close.
“Sonofabitch.” From Liam. He jumped from the bed. Jerked on his jeans. “Bastard followed us.”
Us…no, he’d followed her.
Sadie moved as fast as she could. Pulled on her shirt, yanked up her shorts. “Liam, stay here, let me handle—”
He spun on her, his eyes dark pools. “Do not finish that.”
She swallowed as she eyed his sharp canines. Not a man anymore. No matter how much she’d like to pretend otherwise.
They ran to the balcony together. Jumped to the ground below. A short drop, barely fifteen feet.
Her knees didn’t buckle, neither did his. Her heart raced as adrenaline pumped through her.
The male shifter’s scent was strong there. Her eyes narrowed and she saw the deep claw marks cutting into the side of her house.
Bastard.
She glanced toward the darkened trees alongside her house. Close enough to watch.
Shit.
The light of dawn trickled across the sky. Fighting shadows, and, she knew, weakening Liam.
Vampires could walk in the sunlight—Stoker had gotten that part right in his book—but they didn’t like to be out during the day. They were weaker, almost…human then.
Vulnerable.
Maybe that was exactly the way the leopard wanted Liam.
Her throat dried. Go after the weak. It was the way of her kind.
She stepped in front of Liam. He might be a vampire, but he was still Liam. The leopard wasn’t going to get him.
Not without one hell of a fight.
They hadn’t found the bastard. He’d clawed up her house. Left his stench all over the place, but the shifter had gotten away.
For two days, Sadie had tried to track the killer.
No luck.
But, at least she hadn’t found any more of the freak’s sick kills in the city.
Those poor women. Clawed. Bitten. Their bodies hanging from the trees.
“How long are you going to keep pretendin’?”
Sadie’s gaze stayed locked on the darkness just beyond her small FBI office. She didn’t jump or gasp when she heard Liam’s voice. She’d known he was behind her.
His scent. The faintest whisper of his steps.
She swallowed. “Any sign of the leopard?” Liam had gone out with a team earlier that night, scouting the swamps in the southwest.
“Hell, no, the bastard’s good at hiding.”
True.
“You didn’t answer me, Sadie love.” A rustle of fabric. He was coming closer.
Her shoulders straightened. He hadn’t been back to her apartment, to her bed, since they’d discovered they had an unwanted guest watching them. It was good that he hadn’t come back to her. Sleeping with him had been a serious mistake.
A mistake that had felt too good.
“Look at me.” A gruff order.
Drawing in a deep breath, she took a moment before she turned to face him. She had to be careful with Liam. He’d always seen so much.
He caught her shoulders, pulled her around to meet his blue stare. “Are you done tryin’ to freeze me out?”
One blond brow raised. “Is that what I’ve been doing?”
His lips tightened. “Don’t fuckin’ play with me, Sadie. Two nights ago you were growling my name.”
And he was whispering hers.
“Now you tense up every time I get within five feet of you.”
True. Why did the guy have to look so sexy? That tousled hair. Those deep, look-into-me eyes. He made her want to forget.
But she couldn’t do that. Not again. Because being with him was too much of a temptation. “I have a case to work, Sullivan. I don’t have time to screw around—”
“Love, you’ve always had time to screw around with me.” Sensual memories filled his eyes.
Her breasts tightened. Ah, damn. “It was a mistake, okay? A weak as hell moment for me. Seeing you, after I’d thought…” Why was she even trying to explain? She didn’t really understand herself. “I was weak.” Better. “But we’ve got a case to work and we should keep things…professional.”
Silence. His nostrils flared. Then…“Bullshit.”
She blinked.
“You think I don’t know how you feel about me?” The hands on her shoulders tightened. Yanked her up against his chest. “I can smell the fear on you.”
Her hands rose and lodged against his chest. “I’m not afraid of you.” She wasn’t afraid of anything. She was a shifter, one of the strongest paranormals out there. The baddest of the bad. The creature who could transform and kill and—
“Bullshit,” he said again. “I know about your friend, you know. All about her and the night you learned to fear vampires.”
Her entire body went stone hard. Miller—that jerk. He should know to keep his mouth shut about her business. Her face was burning and she knew her cheeks had to be flushing dark red. “You don’t know—”
“Little Jasmine…killed by a vampire.”
Her claws dug into his chest as she remembered.
Long hair matted with red. A wound that wouldn’t close.
Tears on her tongue.
Screams—desperate pleas.
And Jasmine, her lips moving as she tried to talk.
But her throat had been ripped open.
She was dying. The light in her eyes fading, fading.
His laughter. Mocking. Close.
“You’re next.”
Liam shook her hard, sending her head snapping back. “Sadie!”
The past vanished. No, no the past was right in front of her. She could see the fangs, glinting.
Vampire.
“Sadie.” Softer now, almost a caress. “It’s all right, love. I understand.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know—”
His lips twisted. “I took your blood. You have to know what that means.”
Her brow furrowed. He’d only taken a few sips. Hardly enough to—
“We’re linked, Sadie.”
The blood link. Hell.
Her brother would freak.
She was about to. “No, that’s not possible. You didn’t take enough—”
His hands smoothed down her arms, his fingertips brushing ever so briefly around the outside of her breasts. “I feel you. Your anger. The fear inside. The pain. I can feel it all.”
She wanted to close her eyes and block him out, but she knew there was no escape.
If Sullivan was telling her the truth and a blood link connected them, there would never be any escape for her. He’d be able to track her anywhere, anytime.
The blood link was one of the most powerful tools a vampire possessed. By drinking, the vampire became linked with prey. Sometimes the link became so strong that it was rumored the vampires could eavesdrop on thoughts and even completely control humans.
Now she was one of the linked?
Shit.
Sadie broke free of his hold. They were sharing this office—thanks, Miller, I sure owe you—so she couldn’t tell him to get lost.
But she could get the hell out of Dodge. Her hands were clenched as she headed for the door.
“Sadie.”
She didn’t look back.
“I know what you see when you look at me.”
Her steps slowed, just a bit.
“I didn’t want this.”
He’d said the words before, but, this time, she believed him, and she looked back. “What did you want?”
A sad smile twisted his lips. “You.”
And she’d wanted him so much. That hunger and need, always there. She’d given in to her feelings the other night, and she knew, if she didn’t stay on her guard, that she would again.
She’d survived losing him once. It had hurt like a bitch, but she’d made it.
No way was she going through that hell again.
There was no future for her with Liam.
“You had me.” Harsh and so hard to say. She spun around, stormed for the door, and heard the faint whisper of his words follow her.
“And I’ll have you again.”
The great Sadie James was running scared.
Liam probably should have been amused by that fact. There was something that could scare the superwoman, er…shifter, after all.
But he wasn’t amused. He was pissed off.
She had no fucking right to fear him. Sadie should know better. He wasn’t some psychotic who would start slaughtering the innocent.
He had fangs.
He drank blood.
So what? Everybody had flaws.
Liam prowled through the city streets, hearing the flow of music and laughter echo around him. After Sadie’s glorious exit—he’d gotten a fine view of her hips swaying—he’d decided to hunt. Solo.
It was night, he was at full power, and he was more than in the mood for a fight.
Or a fuck. But since Sadie wasn’t particularly acting like she was in that mood, he’d settle for knocking the shit out of some deserving bastard.
Because he wasn’t fucking anyone else. He’d had lovers since his Sadie. The blood hunger mixed with physical lust drove him nearly mad, so he’d had no choice but to take others. But since he’d tasted Sadie again—knew the pleasure he could find with her—he didn’t want to lay with another.
Two women and a swaying man hurried out of his way when he stalked toward another club’s entrance. Fire. What the hell kind of name was that? The last joint he’d searched had been Taboo. Screwy names. He’d keep…
The scent of blood teased his nostrils.
Liam stilled. The women whispered and he felt their gazes sweep over him.
His canines pressed against his lips.
The scent’s too strong.
There was no feeding room in this part of town. He shouldn’t be smelling this sweet scent here, not with the blood seeming to weigh down the very air around him.
His head jerked to the left. His ears, sharper than a human’s, but not close to being on par with a shifter like Sadie, strained to hear.
The music drummed. High laughter.
There were too many people out. So much noise.
A whimper. His eyes narrowed. Could have been a word. Could have been—
Help.
Piss. Liam snarled and took off running.
He knew exactly where the scent of blood would take him and he was more than ready for this fight.
“Why the hell are you telling Liam my personal business?” Sadie’s fisted hands came down hard on Miller’s desk. “I work for you, but you don’t have any right to tell my secrets.”
“Not even to your lover?” His voice was expressionless.
“Ex-lover,” she gritted. Not that it was any of his business. Boundaries. Miller needed them, desperately.
“Hmmm…weren’t you together at your place on Saturday?”
She sucked in a breath. “If you’ve got me bugged again, Miller, I swear you’ll—”
“Relax, James.” He smiled at her, an almost…warm smile. Weird, seeing it on a snake. “That was pure guess.”
Bastard.
Fear was in the air. A harsh smell, one that blended with the rich scent of fresh blood.
A fact of life: Most vampires liked fear. Their bodies responded instinctively to it.
Many vamps that Liam knew got off on the fear. They loved power and they loved making prey tremble.
Liam, well, the fear just didn’t do it for him. Whenever he caught that acidic odor, he remembered his last night as a human.
Fear. It had been the last thing he’d smelled as a human. His own wild, overwhelming fear. And it had been the first odor he’d caught on waking. Two of his men had still been alive. Barely. Seconds from death. Their fear had burned him, even as the blood around him triggered new instincts.
No. He wouldn’t remember that night.
He had another monster to catch.
Buildings loomed around him. Tall and dark, with windows of thick glass that looked black in the night.
His heart raced, his eyes narrowed, and his nose twitched.
Where are you?
The question was not for the victim, but for the—
“Help!” Not a murmur this time. A woman’s scream.
Up ahead.
A building with a FOR SALE sign. No lights. About seven stories. A chain across the front entrance.
His legs burned as he ran, traveling faster than a mortal could. He saw the window on the second floor. The broken glass.
Broken deliberately? The better to smell—
Animal. Savage. The scent hit him even harder than the blood. Shifter.
“Oh, God, help me, somebody—”
No one else was going to help her.
Liam let his own claws spring out from his fingertips. “Get ready, bastard, here I come.”
“I can’t keep working with him, I—” Sadie broke off, frowning. The hair on her nape was rising and a knot had twisted her stomach.
“Sadie?” Miller frowned.
Her lips parted. “Where is Liam?” She’d left him in the office, but…
She spun around, dashing for the door.
“Wait, James! I’ve got—”
Scaling the building wasn’t hard. He was at the second story window in less than thirty seconds. The stench of the shifter was stronger, and so was the sweet smell of blood. He hurtled through the window, shattering the remnants of the broken pane and feeling the sharp sting of jagged glass cut into his arms and side.
Liam rolled, rising in a crouch with his arms up and his teeth bared.
He saw her first. Curled in a fetal position in the corner, the woman was whimpering. Blood covered her bare limbs. Dripped onto the floor around her.
The shifter had done one hell of a number on her.
A growl rumbled. “Like the look of all that blood, do you, vampire?” A man stepped from the shadows near the door. His claws were up, stained red. “Thought it might tempt you.”
Liam lunged, jumping the span of the room in an instant and grabbing the shifter by his neck. “Fuckin’ bastard.”
The shifter slashed with claws, cutting into Liam’s chest and breaking his hold with a fast twist.
He sucked in a sharp breath at the pain.
“Came alone, did you?” The shifter shook his head and his green eyes glinted. “Mistake, vampire. Serious mistake.”
The woman scooted even closer to the wall. Liam was aware of her furtive movements, but he didn’t dare glance her way.
He wasn’t about to give the shifter even a moment’s advantage.
“You really think you’re gonna take me in?” The shifter shook his head. “I’m not made for a cell. My kind don’t take so well to captivity.”
A chatty prick. “Who said anything about taking you in?” Miller had told him from the beginning that this was a death case. This one’s too dangerous. He likes the kill too much. Containment isn’t an option.
The leopard had made the extermination list.
Blood dripped from the cuts on Liam’s body and splattered onto the floor around his feet. “Ready to die, shifter?”
The blond man snarled. His bones began to snap and crack as the transformation swept over him.
Better the man than the beast.
Liam attacked with teeth and claws.
“You’ve got a tail on him?” Miller’s words had stopped her at the door. Sadie shook her head. “Why the hell would you put a tail on your own man—” She broke off, huffing out a breath. Never mind. Sneaking and double-crossing his own agents was the way Miller worked.
“I don’t trust him yet, not one hundred percent.” He leveled a stare at her as he cradled his cell phone to his ear. “Thought it’d be best to keep an eye on him.”
“Liam would have made any man on him.” The guy was good. And why, why was her stomach in knots? Why did she keep thinking about him?
Thinking that the Irishman needed her—and that she had to get to him, fast.
“He wouldn’t have spotted Lance.”
Lance. Hell. The fox shifter.
No one ever spotted that tricky agent.
“Where is he?” The demand was barked into the phone. “What? Shit, hell, yeah, go.”
Sadie rocked forward on to the balls of her feet. The leopard was snarling. The woman was shaking. “Miller…”
He was already on his feet. “Building at the corner of Burns and Montay. Lance said he heard screams and then Liam scaled the wall.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. “The other leopard?”
“Looks like. Lance is running in for backup, but Liam is gonna need you—”
She left him in her dust.
The woman wouldn’t stop screaming. The leopard wouldn’t stop attacking, and Liam couldn’t seem to stop bleeding.
Piss.
The leopard’s teeth had clamped on to him too many times. The beast’s claws had raked and pierced his flesh.
The blood loss would soon slow him down, even as his hunger for fresh blood—the injured woman smelled so sweet—pushed at his control.
The leopard slammed into him. Liam managed to wrap his arms around the shifter and roll. He gathered his strength and tossed the animal against the wall. Sheetrock littered the floor.
The door flew open. Liam turned, ready to face a new threat. A small man stood in the entranceway, his brown hair slicked back and his black eyes darting around the room.
Who the—
The leopard’s teeth sank into his shoulder.
“Ah!” He swiveled, drove his fist at the creature. The leopard fell back, dazed.
Vampire strength. Not something to sneer at.
“I’m here to help you, Sullivan!” The shout came from the man in the doorway.
Liam crouched, fully facing the crouching leopard. “Get the woman out!” The guy sure as hell wouldn’t be any help in a fight. One punch would knock him out.
But if he could get the woman to safety and remove the distraction of her flowing blood—
He heard the scuffle of footsteps. A woman’s moan. She was bad off. She needed to get to a hospital, right away.
And the leopard needed a swift trip to hell.
Time to send him there. “No more games,” he growled, knowing the man within the beast would understand him. “I’m going to—”
The leopard streaked past him and shot through the window, a blur of yellow and black.
“No!” Liam bounded after him, ready to hunt the bastard down and finish this.
But his right leg gave way beneath him and he hit the floor, hard.
Shifters had a well deserved reputation in the Other world. They were tough as nails and it took more than a few lucky swipes to kill them. It took one hell of lot to bring a shifter down.
“No, n-no, l-let m-me go!” The woman. Screaming. Sobbing. Fighting the weasel-looking guy.
She was using up strength she couldn’t afford to lose.
Casting one last look out the window—the leopard had already vanished—Liam promised, “I’ll find you again.” And they’d finish the battle they’d started.
Shaking, biting back vicious hunger and pain, he rose to his feet. The right leg was still weak, the shifter had torn into his calf with his teeth, but it would hold. For now.
Blood followed his footsteps.
The woman was fighting wildly, her dark eyes huge, her black hair flying around her. “No, d-don’t h-hurt—” She caught sight of him. A piercing shriek burst from her. “Devil!”
Maybe. “I’m the devil who saved you, lady.”
Her eyes rolled back. Liam caught her when she fell. “Hospital,” he ordered as his hands curled around her. “Now!”
He fought to stay upright. He couldn’t fall again. The woman came first. It was always about the victim. He’d learned that on the streets of Dublin.
As a kid, he’d seen violence first hand. The bombings. The murders. The survivors left standing with haunted eyes.
The victims came first.
Vampire or human, the rule was still the same for him.
But, damn, he sure could have used Sadie right then.
Sadie…
Flowers. Woman. A racing heart.
“Liam!”
Her voice. His gaze rose. She ran through the doorway, other armed agents following on her heels.
The real backup.
He could have kissed her.
Two agents dressed in op black took the woman from him.
Sadie’s eyes were wide as she stared at him. “Liam.” A breath of sound. Her gaze raked his body. “Liam.”
He stiffened. He didn’t want to be weak in front of her and the others. His arms snaked out. Caught Sadie and pulled her close.
His kiss was wild, and more than a little desperate.
He could hear the drumming of her heart, the soft flow of her blood.
He needed to drink.
But, even more, he needed her.
Pity he couldn’t have her.
His arms dropped. “He…got away.” His tongue felt thick. His teeth too sharp.
Sadie reached for his hand. Her soft fingertips brushed across his skin. “Are you…Liam, dammit, you’re bleeding out. Let me help you, let me—”
“Other guy…worse than me.” True, that. The shifter had retreated because he’d been badly wounded. Maybe they’d all get lucky and find his carcass with the coming of dawn.
The agents were spreading out, some searching the room behind them, some carrying the woman out into the hall and toward the stairs.
“You need help.” Worry in her voice. Fear in her eyes. “What can I do?”
His gaze lazered in on Sadie’s sweet throat. “Let me drink.” A stark demand.
She knew about vampires. Knew that he couldn’t afford this level of loss. If he didn’t feed, soon, he’d weaken too much.
Blood loss—one surefire way to kill a vampire.
If he didn’t feed, he’d fall at her feet.
“Let me drink.”
Her breath whispered out, and she nodded.
Liam was in trouble, and Sadie was afraid. So afraid that her knees shook and her hands were sweating and she felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest.
I can’t lose him again.
He had so many wounds. His chest. His arms. His shoulders. Even his legs. The shifter had savaged him.
“Don’t die on me.” She gave the order as she kicked in the door to her left. They were far away from the rest of the team. They’d managed to sneak up to a higher floor while the other agents fanned out below. Liam needed safety, but she didn’t have time to get him back to her place. He needed to feed.
Now.
“Too late, love.” A ghost of a smile feathered his lips and the ache in his tone made her hands clench. “I died two years ago.”
Her jaw locked. “Do it, Liam. Go ahead, just—”
Drink from me.
He couldn’t afford to be so weak. Liam had his share of enemies, she knew that. All vampires had enemies—there were too many folks, both human and Other, running around out there with a Van Helsing complex.
She’d been one of them.
No longer. She didn’t care that he was a vamp. He was hers, and she hated to see him like this.
Sadie was going to kill that shifter.
She wrapped her arms around Liam and felt the wet touch of his blood.
His wounds weren’t closing.
There wasn’t any time to spare.
“Sadie…” Hunger. Fear?
She shut her eyes. She’d been taught vampire feeding was a degradation. The worst insult to her kind.
The hunter, becoming prey.
Screw that.
Liam needed her. Pride could take a hike.
Tilting back her head, she bared her throat and waited.
She expected the hot flash of pain that came from his teeth. At the bar, the sting of his bite had been brief. Then there had been such unexpected pleasure.
Yeah, she expected the sharp press of his teeth.
Instead, she felt the soft brush of his lips and the wet slide of his tongue on her flesh.
Her mouth parted on a sigh. Her breasts tightened against him, and heat bloomed between her thighs.
Sadie’s hands rose and tunneled into the thick strands of his hair. “Liam.”
Her Liam.
His teeth pierced her flesh. A split second of sharp pain and then—
The pleasure. The fast, hard rush of sensual energy heated her blood. Her thighs shifted as she strained to get closer to him.
His mouth moved on her. Lips. Tongue. Teeth. And it felt so good. As if she’d climax, with just the press of those teeth.
Her hands tightened in his hair, forcing him closer.
Her panties were getting wet.
She wanted him inside of her, thrusting and drinking.
No one had ever told her that a vampire’s bite could be so amazing. Pain. Fear. That’s all the whispers said.
But what about the rush of pleasure? The wild heat of hunger and lust? She rubbed against him, her breasts aching, her sex yearning.
More.
She wanted—
Liam.
His hands slipped between them. Caught her breasts, stroked and teased through the thin blouse she wore. His thumbs raked over her nipples and a growl burst from her lips.
And still he drank from her.
Every nerve in her body seemed electrified. Her skin too sensitive, her lust too fierce.
The beast snarled inside, demanding release. A release the woman wanted just as badly.
But part of her was afraid. Liam was hurt so badly, she didn’t want to injure him, didn’t want to make it worse.
So she bit back her hunger. And let him take.
Mouth.
Tongue.
Teeth.
And his hands—cradling her flesh. Tugging her nipples. Feeding the sensual need. Those long, strong fingers knew just how to touch her.
The scent of her arousal filled the air. Whimpers slipped from her lips. Hungry growls.
Her hands dropped to his shoulders. Curled tight. Held on for the ride.
Still he drank.
An explosion of lights appeared behind her closed lids. Her sex throbbed. Her knees shook.
Sadie licked her lips and swore that she tasted him. He hadn’t kissed her, but he was all around her.
She could feel him. Inside.
Heart.
Spirit.
Everywhere.
The blood link. She knew it was getting stronger. The more he took, the deeper the bond.
Forever.
His teeth withdrew. A wet swipe of his tongue.
Her eyes opened.
A tender kiss on her neck. Right over the mark he’d left.
Soon, she’d be marking him.
Liam’s head lifted, and when his eyes met hers, there was no blue in his gaze.
Only darkness.
Those black eyes narrowed. “You know…what happens now.”
No, she really didn’t have a damn clue. She wanted him. Naked. But the guy was injured and, even with her blood, it would take hours for him to heal completely.
Already, though, his voice was stronger. And the wounds were starting to close—she could tell by the smaller scratches on his face. They were shrinking before her eyes.
The relief sweeping through her body made Sadie almost dizzy.
Losing him again—not an option.
Shit.
Realization had her eyes widening.
She still loved the Irish bastard.
“We need…to get out of here.”
A nod.
“Your blood—it’s damn strong, but I’m goin’ to crash soon. To heal, I’ll have to sleep.”
Another nod. Her blood would give him the strength to get past the other officers and to make it back to her place.
Then she’d keep him safe while he slept.
His fingers caught her chin. “When I wake, I’m goin’ to have you.”
A dark promise.
She smiled. “No, Liam, when you wake…” She paused, just long enough to have his brows lowering, “I’ll have you.”
Vampires dreamed. Some folks thought they didn’t, but, then again, some folks also thought his kind didn’t have souls.
Vamps had souls, some were just blacker than the night they loved so much. Evil was a choice, not a punishment for his kind.
Free will.
Everyone—everything had it.
Just as creatures like him, well, they had dreams.
But sometimes, those dreams weren’t fantasies. They were memories. The vampire’s. His prey.
Shared visions given by the blood.
When Liam slept, the visions came to him. He saw a girl, smiling, long black hair around her shoulders. She was laughing, pointing.
Beside her, he saw his Sadie. Younger. With eyes not so hard and with a curving mouth.
Innocence.
Youth.
A beautiful dream. Happy.
At first.
Then the woods around the girls grew darker. Laughter reached his ears. Cold. Insidious.
And he wanted to wake up.
But he couldn’t. The sleep was too deep.
The vampire attacked the dark-haired girl. Jasmine.
“Change, Sadie, change! Help me!”
The snap of bones. The rolling cry of the leopard.
The vampire had a tight lock on little Jasmine. Blood dripped down her neck and her cries grew weaker.
Sadie attacked. Biting. Clawing. Fighting as fiercely as she could.
But her leopard wasn’t fully grown. The leopard aged as the girl did. Still young. Still weak.
The vampire dropped Jasmine onto the ground. Her eyes were wide open, terrified.
The vampire was going after Sadie.
“You’ll taste so good.”
Another roar filled the forest. Shook the earth.
Not from Sadie. From another. Coming closer.
The vampire glanced over his shoulder.
Too late.
Blood covered the ground.
And Jasmine—her eyes closed.
Liam’s body stiffened against her. Sadie frowned, stroking her hands over his chest. He’d been out for almost twelve hours. The sun was setting.
His night was coming.
The wounds on his body had healed. Not even a scratch marred his flesh.
She leaned over him, her gaze on the shadows cast by his lashes. He was almost beautiful in sleep. Damn too-good looks of his. No man should be so sexy.
Her hand lifted. Traced the curve of his lips.
He woke instantly, his eyelids flying open. Liam’s right hand snapped around her wrist in a steely grip.
“Who was the other leopard?” Gruff.
Sadie blinked. “What?” Was he talking about the asshole who’d attacked him? Unfortunately, the team still hadn’t tracked him, but she knew they would, it was only a matter of time, especially once she and Liam went hunting.
“In the woods that day…”
Chill bumps rose on her flesh.
“Who killed the vampire?”
Her gaze held his as her breath rushed out. “The link’s that strong, huh?” The blood link was one of the few real mysteries still in existence. Just how strong, how deep, it really depended on the vampire and his victim.
She swallowed. “My brother, Jacob.” Thank God he’d decided to come looking for her and Jasmine. If he hadn’t—
She would have died that night, too. Because their attacker…“He’d been watching us. For days.” Hiding his scent—the tricky bastard. “Waiting for that one moment when we were vulnerable.” They’d been having so much fun. Running. Laughing. Enjoying the wild woods.
His lips tightened. “How can…” He stopped, jaw clenching.
“Liam?”
His gaze was stark and his brogue thick as he asked, “How can you let me touch you, knowin’ what he did?”
“Because you aren’t him.” Liam had fought like hell to save the woman in that building. He wouldn’t attack innocents.
Not his style.
Never had been.
Never would be.
She was an idiot for ever thinking otherwise.
“Let go of my hand,” she told him quietly.
The body beneath hers—delicious naked flesh—tautened even more.
But he let her go.
“I shouldn’t have—” He shook his head. “That first night, I-I needed the blood, but I should never have taken—”
She snorted. Probably not her sexiest moment. “Please, vampire. If I’d wanted free of your hold, it would have been too easy.” Not a youth anymore, her beast was fully grown and more than a match for a vampire.
The stark truth: She’d wanted to be in his arms again. If she hadn’t wanted to feel him, flesh to flesh, she could have put up one hell of a fight.
Her fingers brushed down his cheek. “I’m touching you,” she told him clearly, “because I want to.”
Liam’s nostrils flared.
“Because I have to.” Softer.
She kissed him. An open-mouthed, I’m-starving-for-you kiss. Lips. Tongues. Heat.
Sadie felt the surprise ripple through him.
Crazy vamp. Didn’t he remember what she’d told him?
It was her turn to have him.
She nipped his lower lip. Vampires weren’t the only ones who liked to bite. Liam should have remembered that about her.
She smiled at him, then caught the bottom of her T-shirt and jerked it over her head. It hit the floor after she threw it, but Sadie didn’t care.
No bra. She’d stripped down to shirt and panties after she’d gotten him in bed.
And she’d stripped him completely.
His eyes were on her breasts. The blue began to darken.
She caught his hands. Brought them to her flesh. Enjoyed the strong weight of his hands over her. He knew just how to stroke her nipples. Just how to play and torment.
But then, so did she.
Sadie’s fingers trailed down his chest. Over the nubs of his nipples. Liam was so sensitive. Always had been. And when she put her tongue on him—
Leaning forward, her tongue swiped over his left nipple.
Liam hissed out a breath and nearly came off the bed.
“Ah, not the way we play tonight.” She pushed him back, deliberately injecting extra strength into the move. “Tonight, it’s my game.”
And she intended to enjoy herself fully.
Rising onto her knees, she shoved the sheets out of her way. Liam was aroused. The hard flesh of his sex rose toward her, long and thick.
The cat inside purred.
Time to get wild.
Her lover had healed, no need to go easy on him.
Her nails scored the flesh of his stomach. Not deep enough to cut the skin, certainly not enough to hurt.
Just enough to have him sucking in a sharp breath and to have those blue eyes turning completely black.
Fear didn’t shoot through her at the sight of his eyes and his sharpening fangs.
This was Liam.
“No pretendin’ this time?” He grated the words.
Her fingers wrapped around his aroused flesh. Felt the jerk of his sex.
She knew what he meant, and part of her felt a flash of shame. “No pretending,” she agreed, her voice a whisper. The present was all that mattered.
Not the past—no way to go back.
And not the future—because, really, what future could they have? She’d age, slip away one day, while he stayed forever young.
No past, no future.
But they could sure enjoy the present.
Her fingers tightened.
Liam’s teeth snapped together.
Then she lowered her head.
“Sadie!”
Her lips feathered over his aroused length. Soft as silk, but so hard and strong. Her tongue snaked out, licked the head of his shaft and tasted the tang of his flesh.
She took him in her mouth.
“Fuck! Sadie!”
She knew what he liked, oh, yeah, she knew. Licking. Sucking. Swirling her tongue over his aching flesh.
His hands clamped over her hips. She felt him rip away her panties. Then he touched her. Slid those long fingers between her thighs and pressed against her sex.
Pushed against her sensitive core, found her wet and ready.
He knew what she liked, too. He’d levered his upper body up to touch her better.
One finger drove inside of her.
Yes.
She looked up at him, into those dark eyes.
A second finger.
Her sex tightened.
Not wild enough, not yet.
Sadie gave him one long, last lick, from root to tip. She kissed away the moisture on the head of his cock. Wanted more.
“In…side.” A grated demand. “Put me…”
His fingers felt fantastic in her sex, but she wanted his cock in her—just as badly as he wanted to be there.
Liam’s thumb stroked her clit, making her cream even more for him.
His fingers withdrew, thrust, withdrew—
Sadie moaned, then moved, fast. She pinned his hands to the mattress. Shifted her hips so that his shaft brushed against her open core.
Her cream coated the head of his cock. Damn, but he was beautiful.
Sadie arched her hips, then drove down onto him, taking that wonderful, thick flesh deep inside.
They both gasped.
So full. Her sex felt stretched, tight.
Her knees dug into the mattress as she flexed. “Ready?” she whispered.
His hungry snarl was her answer.
Sadie started moving. Rising, falling. Faster and faster. Her breath left her in hard pants, her heart drummed against her ribs and sweat slickened her flesh.
And she kept riding him. His thighs were like steel beneath her. His cock her perfect fantasy.
Again, again, again.
His lips were parted, those teeth gleaming.
His gaze was on her throat.
Sadie rose, fell. She tightened her grip on his wrists.
Release bore down on her. Just a few seconds away—
Her cry filled the room. Her sex clenched around him and ripples of pleasure rolled through her body.
But she didn’t stop moving. Rising, falling. No, she didn’t stop—
Because Sadie was just getting started.
She was so fucking beautiful. Liam stared up at Sadie, at her glowing eyes and red lips, and his cock swelled even more within her slick depths.
Oh, damn, but her climax was milking him. Squeezing him so tightly in her warm, wet sex.
But he didn’t want to come yet. Not yet.
She let go of his hands. Smiled at him, the smile that always made his mouth go dry and his cock twitch.
“I want a bite,” she said, her voice husky. Pure damn temptation.
He almost came. His heels dug into her sheets. He wasn’t going to last much longer. She was so hot and snug.
Sadie bent over him, and her nipples pressed into his chest. Beautiful nipples. Red like cherries, with tight tips. He loved her breasts. Loved having them in his mouth. Sucking them until her face flushed and the scent of her arousal filled his nostrils.
His hands caught her hips, urging her closer. His fingers locked on the round curves of her arse.
Beautiful arse. Now he’d like to bite—
Her lips brushed the curve of his neck. She kissed him, mouth open.
Then his Sadie bit him and Liam’s control vanished with a roar.
He came, exploding deep within her body. The release was savage. So strong his whole body shook and so good—oh, fuck, so good.
Sadie.
She kept riding him as he came. Kept lifting her hips, sweeping her sex over his sensitive flesh.
The release wiped him out, hollowed him, and made him crave more.
He shuddered and wanted her blood.
Wanted his bite.
How did I walk away from this? From her? The questions flashed through his mind.
How the hell had he been strong enough to leave her before?
She raised her head. Licked her plump lips and—he kissed her. And started thrusting again.
Her sex was swollen and still so wonderfully wet. He moved slowly at first, as his cock began to grow within her.
Then the thrusts became stronger. The kiss harder.
She broke free from him. Pushed up on her knees. Sadie looked down, and he followed her gaze. The head of his cock was inside of her, shielded by the light covering of her blond curls.
She took all of him inside.
Liam pressed his lips together. A bite, just one—
She was too far away from him. Fully on her knees. He pushed up, managing to shove even deeper into her.
The pleasure on her face made him crazy.
Bloodlust rose, so hot and powerful that he started to turn away from her.
“No!”
Her nails—no, too sharp for mere nails—dug into his shoulders. His gaze shot back to her face.
He watched, stunned, as she tipped her head back and bared her throat. “Your turn.”
His arms clamped around her. Liam’s right hand pulled back her hair, as his left stroked her throat.
And his cock was still deep in her sheath.
Her knees were on either side of his hips. Face to face now, they stared at each other. Black eyes to gold.
Her sex rippled around him, a silken glide that had him groaning. Her pulse raced, he could hear the drumming, the soft whoosh of her blood.
He would take it, as he took her.
Liam pierced her flesh. Tasted the wild flavor of her blood.
Her inner muscles clamped around, squeezing, tightening.
He drank.
They climaxed. An explosion of sensation that rocked between them both. Waves of fiery pleasure, consuming.
Liam could feel Sadie, inside, out, her mind, spirit…
All of her.
In that one, blinding instant, when the world disappeared in a veil of red, she was completely his.
And he was hers.
His teeth withdrew.
Liam pressed a kiss to her throat.
His.
Now they were both marked. Beyond flesh.
How the hell did I let her go? The question rose again, and he knew, there would be no escape for Sadie this time.
Beyond flesh.
Staying in bed, having pillow talk—well, that really wasn’t an option for them.
Sex with Liam had been necessary, as vital as breathing for Sadie. She’d had to feel his flesh within her.
To make absolutely certain that Liam was all right—alive, or, at least still undead.
But they had a killer to catch. As much as she would have liked to stay in that bed with him all night, a job waited.
Sadie’s life wasn’t an easy one. Not a lot of down time for a leopard shifter who spent her nights tracking killers.
There was fresh blood on the streets. She had to hunt, no, they had to hunt.
So less than an hour later, she and Liam were scouring the streets of Miami. Her nostrils twitched as she fought to catch the scent of the other leopard. But she didn’t detect the deep, musky odor. Just caught the smell of cigarettes, car exhaust, whiskey, and too expensive perfume.
“Anything?” Liam asked.
Sadie shook her head. “Not yet.” But she’d find him. Her gut told her that the leopard hadn’t turned tail and fled the city. Not his style.
He’d needed to heal, just as Liam had, and when his strength was back—could already be back—he’d hunt again.
She wasn’t in the mood to find any more savaged human women. Women whose bodies had been tossed into trees and left for their blood to drip onto the ground.
In the wild, leopards often stashed their prey in trees to keep other predators, like lions, from taking their precious food. The better to savor the meal.
This was Miami, not the wild, and the leopard was leaving his kills in the trees for one reason: to make the humans afraid. To leave them a message.
There’s something in the night you need to fear.
Yet despite his taunting warning, the streets were packed this night.
More prey, just waiting.
“They don’t believe what they see,” Sadie whispered, feeling Liam come to a stop behind her. “They won’t know what’s coming for them until it’s too late.” A human would be no match for a full grown male leopard shifter. The leopards were so strong.
“We’re going to find him.” Liam sounded certain. “The bastard can’t hide forever.”
But he could kill again, before they found him. He could—
The cell phone on her hip vibrated. Sadie had the phone out, open, and at her ear in two seconds time. “Miller?” He’d be the only one to contact her now.
“Brently and Moore Street.” The special agent’s voice was thick with excitement. “Abandoned house. Got a phone tip—some guy swears he saw a jungle cat crawling into the house.”
No, it couldn’t be this easy…could it?
“He wants animal control,” Miller continued, “he’s getting us.”
Sadie turned, her gaze meeting Liam’s. “On our way.”
The FBI team wouldn’t go in without her. Miller understood what he was facing.
She ended the call. Raised her brows. “Our hunt just got a hell of a lot easier.” Maybe. The leopard should have been too skilled at camouflage to be seen, but perhaps he’d been so badly hurt that he couldn’t properly cover himself.
Perhaps.
“Keep your guard up,” she told him.
Leopards loved to lure their prey in close—close enough to kill.
“Lance says the leopard’s smell is all over the damn house.” Miller stood behind an unmarked police car, his brown eyes glaring at the small house across the street. Boarded windows. Slumping roof. Overgrown yard.
Sadie’s nostrils flared. “He’s right.” Her hands clenched into fists. The scent of the leopard was everywhere. So heavy.
Too heavy?
She could just make out claw marks along the top of the old porch. Embedded deep into the faded white wood that clung to the front of the house.
“I’m going in—”
“We are,” Liam corrected softly.
She gave a grim nod. “Keep everyone else back. Let’s make sure there aren’t any surprises waiting for us.”
“James.” Miller lifted his hand, palm up, and motioned toward the waiting house. “This show’s yours.”
Because a charmer knew better than to tangle with the killer that waited.
Sadie and Liam went in fast. Guns up and ready. She didn’t shift, couldn’t, with so many people around. So, this time, she was going to use cold bullets. The right aim, and the leopard would be out, permanently.
They sidled up to the house. Swept to the left, keeping cover in the overgrown grass as much as possible. Sadie had her eyes on the second window on the left side, the one criss-crossed by two boards. One yank should have those down, then they’d be inside.
“So much blood…” Liam’s voice was a breath of sound behind her.
Her head moved in the slightest of nods. The coppery odor was even stronger now. And the blood smelled very, very fresh.
What if he had another victim in there? She could smell the traces of a human’s presence. The faded whisp of perfume. A woman. Was another victim inside?
Or was that just the scent memory of one of those poor women he’d killed?
No time to waste.
Sadie reached the window first. But Liam’s hands lifted before her. He had the boards down, ripped away without so much as a sound.
Then it was her turn.
Sadie dove through the window, landing in a crouch, gun ready, eyes searching the darkness to find—
A large gold and black spotted leopard. On the ground. Covered in blood. Barely moving, gasping for breath.
Thud. Thud…
A weakening drum—his heart struggling to beat.
“Search the rest of the house!” Her order was given instantly.
Never let down your guard.
She’d learned that lesson long ago.
Liam moved like a shadow, drifting soundlessly through the small rooms.
“Clear.” His gaze swept back to the leopard. “Looks like the bastard won’t be a problem much longer.” He unhooked the radio on his hip and called out to Miller.
The rest of the cavalry would be inside the place in moments.
Sadie couldn’t take her gaze off the leopard. Golden fur matted red. She stepped forward. “We’re with the FBI…” Why was she bothering with the whole spiel? Miller would order him dead the minute he walked into the house.
Not that it looked like the leopard would live much longer anyway.
A whimper rolled from his throat. A stark cry of pain and fear.
Her nose twitched. The scent of the leopard—it wasn’t quite right.
Not as musky as before.
But maybe the blood was just too strong.
Maybe.
“Fuck, the bastard’s still alive.” Miller’s voice. He’d stepped into what amounted to the den in the house. Sadie turned her head and found him glaring at the trembling leopard. He’d come in alone, for the time being. As she watched, Miller pushed back his jacket and reached for his gun. “This one’s not going in—”
“No!” The cry burst from her lips, instinct kicking into high gear.
Miller’s eyes widened and an are-you-insane look covered his face.
The scent should have been the same. “Don’t—don’t kill him yet.” Because dammit, something was off here.
His eyebrows shot up. “James, you know what we have to do. That jerkoff’s been slicing women to bits. Rehabilitation is not gonna work for him.”
Yeah, right, as if there were a monster rehabilitation program. The powers that be would just rather see her kind dead.
“Why is he still in leopard form?” The fight between him and Liam had happened over fourteen hours before. The shift itself helped to speed healing for her kind. He should have transformed—
Not crawled into the house to lick his wounds and die.
“Maybe he couldn’t,” Miller groused. “Maybe he was hurt too bad from tangling with Sullivan.”
Maybe.
But shifting after injuries like this—it was second nature. No, more than that—survival instinct.
“Sadie…” Liam’s voice now. Liam’s eyes met hers with worry lurking in his stare. “Don’t think because he’s one of yours that he can be saved.”
One of yours. “Mine,” she gritted. “No, he’s not mine.” Her kind—her family—didn’t savage innocents. “Something feels wrong.” She shook her head, wishing she could put into words just why the scene made her feel so uneasy.
The leopard she’d faced before had been so vicious. She’d almost smelled the evil and decay of the soul dripping from him.
This leopard was different.
Same overlying scent. Earth. Wild animal. But…not decay.
She stepped in front of Miller’s gun. “Put it down.”
His jaw dropped. “James, you’re stepping over the line—”
“Put. It. Down.” He wasn’t killing the leopard, not until she figured out what was happening.
Lines bracketed Miller’s mouth, but he slowly lowered his weapon. “You’ve got two minutes, then I’m putting a bullet in his head. No more women are dying on my watch.”
Two minutes. Giving a quick nod, she spun around. She had to get closer to the shifter. The leopard’s head was turned away from her. She needed to look into his eyes.
She stepped in his blood. No way to avoid it. Blood had pooled on the floor.
He wouldn’t live much longer.
She kept her gun out and her body ready. If this was a ploy, he wouldn’t catch her off guard.
“Stop.” Liam’s voice. Vibrating with leashed control. “That’s close enough.”
Less than two feet away. Her tongue licked desert dry lips. “Look at me.” She knew the leopard had heard every word spoken in that house. He’d heard, but hadn’t reacted.
As he didn’t react now.
Too far gone from pain?
Or part of his plan?
“If you don’t look at me now,” she raised her voice, injected steel, “then you’re going to die. Miller can fire that bullet into the back of your skull and—”
The leopard’s head whipped toward her. His mouth opened in a snarl. His teeth glistened.
But his eyes were too bright. Brighter than any shifter’s she’d ever seen. It almost hurt her to look into them. Chips of emerald ice.
“Get the hell back!” Liam’s snarl as he grabbed her arm.
She didn’t move. Just stared into those eyes and realized that the leopard wasn’t seeing her.
Eyes as blank as glass.
He wasn’t seeing anything.
Blind.
She shook Liam off and dove to her knees. Her hands went to the wounds, so many, and she tried to staunch the blood.
“Don’t touch him! Sadie, what are you—”
Her head snapped toward Liam. “Help me.” She’d never asked for his help before, but she needed him now. “This isn’t the same leopard.”
“What?” Miller bellowed.
“The eyes.” She swallowed. “They’re green—but his are different.” The leopard wasn’t attacking her, damn lucky that, but his body had stiffened. Hold on. “His stare’s too bright. Liam, he’s blind.” A blind shifter. He would have been born with the vision loss, because if the problem had developed later in life, the beast within would have been able to heal him. “He’s not the one who’s been killing those women.” But if they couldn’t help him soon, he would be the one to die that night.
Liam fell to his knees beside her. Buried his hands in the matted fur. “Fuck. What happened to him?’
She had a good look at his wounds. At the marks that could only have been made by claws. “The same thing—the same shifter—that happened to you last night.”
“Christ.” Miller exhaled heavily. “How many damn shifters are running around this city?”
Sadie didn’t answer because she didn’t think Miller really wanted the truth.
She looked back into the beast’s blazing eyes. “Stay with me, okay? We’re gonna help you.” He had to shift to survive. “Miller, get him an ambulance—he’s gonna have to be sewn up at the hospital, because when he transforms, he’s not—”
Fur began to melt away. Muscled, golden flesh appeared as bones snapped and reshaped.
“Sonofabitch.” Miller’s breathless voice.
Guess the guy had never seen a shift before.
Good thing the rest of his team members, the humans, were still outside.
The shifter lifted his head, no—tried to lift his head. Blond hair. Strong chin. High cheeks.
Liam tensed beside her. “Sadie…are you sure?”
She understood his doubt, because the man she saw now was an exact copy of the shifter she’d seen in the bar that first night.
Same shaggy blond hair. Same strong chin. Cheeks. Nose.
An exact copy.
Exact for the eyes.
If the leopard had been dead when they arrived, and those too bright eyes were closed, wouldn’t she have thought that she’d found her killer?
Sneaky bastard.
“Get the EMTs in here!” Her voice snapped like a whip. “He needs blood, stitches, and a hell of a lot of morphine!”
Miller swore and hurried outside. She heard him shouting orders.
The blond’s lips trembled. Cracked, caked with blood.
No, his injuries were far too severe to heal with one transformation.
Maybe they were too severe to heal at all.
“In…no…cent…” So weak, but she heard him. Then his bright eyes closed.
“No!”
“It’s the same man.” Miller paced the hospital hallway. “He fits the description. He’s a leopard shifter—he’s the same damn man.”
Sadie glanced up at him. The special agent was almost vibrating with tension.
“Lance says the smell’s the same. Same scent, same man. We’ve got doctors in there trying to save a sadistic killer when—”
“He’s innocent.” From Liam.
Sadie turned to him in surprise.
He gave her a rueful smile. “Hey, a guy doesn’t forget the man who tried to kill him.” He looked back at Miller. “It was a setup. We were supposed to find a dead body to satisfy us.”
She nodded, not the least bit surprised that Liam had come to the same conclusion she had. They’d always been in sync on their cases. One of the reasons she’d been so drawn to him.
Their minds worked alike.
And their bodies were pure fire together.
“Should have been a perfect setup,” Liam continued. “But the bastard didn’t contend with that guy—” he jerked his thumb toward the operating room “—fighting so hard to live.”
“I figure them for twins,” Sadie said. Only thing that made sense. A sigh as her shoulders fell. “I’m guessing the prick who left him for dead didn’t count on him being strong enough to survive.” A hard smile, one that she knew showed her sharp teeth. “He was wrong.”
Miller ran a shaking hand down his face. “So the killer’s still out there? Hunting on Miami streets?”
Unfortunately.
“Christ.” He reached for his phone. Pressed speed dial. “Jennings, get the men back on the streets.”
Sadie watched him pace away.
“You saved his life, you know.” Liam reached for her hand.
Her lips twisted. “Maybe, maybe not.” Attacked like that, by his own brother. What kind of life had he led?
Hell. Jacob would sooner bite off his own hand than ever hurt her.
Blind. She’d never met a leopard shifter who couldn’t see. The senses were so much a part of the beast.
And so necessary for hunting.
“You gave him a chance, then.” He nodded. “Better than letting him take a bullet—which would have happened without you.”
Her hand turned in his grasp so that her fingers locked with his. “Thanks for backing me up.”
Liam’s head inclined toward her. “Don’t you know yet, love, I’ll always back you?”
Yeah, she knew. No, she’d thought she knew that he’d have her back. Until he’d left her all alone in a house that smelled of him. He’d been with her so much in her home and in her bed, that his scent had marked everything.
As he’d marked her.
Every day—every damn day—she’d smelled him and thought that he was lost to her.
“Why, Liam?”
His brows pulled low. “I don’t know what makes a man cross the line and start killin’—”
“No.” Sadie wet her lips, rose to stand right in front of him. She had to find out, because she hurt. In her heart, the one he’d touched. Then and now. “Why did you leave me?”
Understanding flashed in his eyes even as his lips tightened. “I didn’t exactly have a choice.”
She wasn’t going to let him off that easily. Her shoulders stiffened. “There are always choices. You could have come to me—told me what happened—”
“And what?” His voice was harder, the Irish he could hide when he wanted rolling under the words now. “Have you turn from me? Call me a monster? You tried to kill me when you realized I was a vampire!”
“If I’d wanted you dead, the stake would have been in your heart.” Hell, she felt like the one who’d taken a weapon to the heart. Damaged. Broken. She’d been like that for two years. “Didn’t you ever think about me?” Sadie couldn’t believe she was even asking him the question. Where was her pride?
But she had to know. She’d thought about him—
“Every night. You were the last thing I thought of before sleepin’ and the first thing on wakin’.”
The hole in her heart closed a bit and her breath seemed to come easier at the absolute truth she saw on his face. “But you never came back to me.” Because, as he’d said before, he thought she was a human and wouldn’t be able to handle him? No, it just didn’t ring true, there had to be something more.
He caught her hands. Held tight to her. “Sadie, I’m not the man you remember.”
No.
“After I got out of containment, I-I did things…things I never thought I’d do.”
Her hands were still in his grasp, but her heart pounded too fast and she knew, with his enhanced vampire hearing, that he heard the hard beats. “Tell me.” The darkness was within him. She’d seen it from the beginning. Maybe, if he’d stayed just a man, the shadows in his soul would have eventually disappeared. But he wasn’t just a man.
“You know the stories about the Born Masters…” No Irish, just cold, dark words.
The vampires who’d been born, not made. The ones who had the strongest psychic powers and the deadliest desires. Sadie nodded.
“Well, those tales don’t even scratch the surface.” An orderly walked down the hall and Liam paused, waiting until the man vanished. “The Borns can touch the minds of all they make—but it’s not just through the blood link. They can control, sneak inside, and steal every damn thought you have.”
Goose bumps rose on her flesh. She’d never encountered one of the Born Masters. Few had, and lived to spread the story.
“Ozur—”
Ozur. Oh, shit. Her claws sprang at the mention of his name. She’d heard of that ancient Viking killer. Insane, bloodthirsty, and sadistic. He’d left a trail of bodies around the globe.
“He’s the one who turned me that night and, later, he tried to control me.”
Her heart stilled, then raced in a triple-time beat. “What did you do?” Not her Liam, he wouldn’t hurt—
“I incinerated the bastard.”
Her breath left her in a startled rush. “What? How?” As far as she knew, only level ten demons were strong enough to control fire to the degree needed to—
He laughed, but it was a harsh, cold rumble of sound. “I let the bastard think he had me. I drank from the prey he gave me, I hunted his enemies, and I got close. And when he rested, I fuckin’ torched him.”
Silence.
Then the intercom crackled to life as a Dr. Tom Brown was paged to ICU.
Liam dropped her hands. “Don’t look at me like that.”
What? She shook her head. “No, Liam, I—”
“I did what I had to do in order to survive. I didn’t kill the prey he gave me. I let them live, Sadie, and when that prick was dead, I freed them. Yeah, I killed other vampires, I killed demons, but not innocents. Not—”
She rose onto her toes and kissed him, shutting off the tumble of his words and offering him the only comfort she could.
I fuckin’ torched him. She’d heard the agony in his voice. Knew that he’d lived through hell.
His arms swept around her, nearly crushing her with his too strong grip. His mouth was frantic on hers. Kissing. Taking. Tongue driving between her lips.
She met him back with full passion and hunger. To know the torment he’d lived broke her heart.
Liam.
He ripped his mouth from hers. Breath ragged, eyes wide, he stared down at her. “You still want me?” Stunned disbelief.
What had he expected? “I’ll always want you, Liam.” Utter, stark truth.
His gaze, darkening, held hers. “I watched you.” An admission that seemed torn from him. His fingers tightened around her, holding her in a grip that would have probably been painful for a human.
For her, it felt just right.
“October twelfth, last year, I came to you. Watched you—you were walking in the rain, just before dawn. Going to your house.”
She remembered. She’d smelled him. Caught the faintest trace of his scent on the wind and ached for an hour because she’d missed him so much. She’d thought the scent was just a trick of her mind.
“I’d just killed Ozur. His blood was on my hands. I wanted you so badly but I couldn’t go back to you. I was a killer, am a killer, and I couldn’t ask you to accept me.”
Her hands pressed against his chest. Such a strong chest. Sculpted muscles. Beneath the flesh and bone, she could feel his heart. Pounding out a frantic rhythm that matched hers. “You don’t have to ask, Liam. I want you, all of you.”
She’d given him her blood and her body. She wasn’t turning from him now.
The doors of the OR swished open behind him. Liam turned at the sound, and Sadie saw a tall, golden-skinned doctor storm toward them.
His face was all angles and harsh planes, his eyes a dark silver. He pointed at them, one long finger raised. “You.” His coat flapped behind him.
Oh, no. This couldn’t be good news. Hell, if that shifter hadn’t made it, then—
“Why the hell did you bring a shifter to my OR?” The doctor, whose name tag read Dr. Jonas Micco, glared at Liam.
Sadie stepped forward. She wanted to jump Liam and let the wild sex settle things between them, but now wasn’t the time, and with the furious doc glaring at them, certainly not the place. “I brought him here.” Her nostrils twitched. This guy didn’t smell like a vampire or a shifter. A human?
She studied him again, noticing the closely cropped black hair and high cheekbones. Native American. The Other had always heavily populated their ranks.
“To a human hospital?” He shook his head. “What, you want him to be on the six o’clock news as a freak show?”
He was about to piss her off. A growl rumbled in her throat. His eyes widened and the doctor backed up a step. Good move. “We didn’t have a choice,” she told him, voice cool. “He was dying on us.” It had been the human hospital or nothing.
“Well…” He exhaled and seemed to become a bit calmer. “You’re damn lucky I was on rotation tonight.”
“Is the guy still alive?” Liam asked.
“Yeah, alive and healing at an in-freaking-credible rate.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “You’ve got to get him out of here before folks start asking questions.”
She caught Miller’s cheap cologne scent behind her. “Will do.” Her head cocked as she studied the doctor. “You know, we could use someone like you…”
Another hasty step back. “I’m not a shifter.”
“No.” But he knew the score, and someone like him—a guy with medical training who wouldn’t start screaming if he cut open a body and saw two hearts inside—he’d be a serious asset. “But you’re someone who knows all about the real world, aren’t you?”
She didn’t need his grim nod for confirmation.
“I know about it, and want to stay the hell away from it.” His jaw was clenched when he gritted, “I’ve seen just how much hell the Other can wreak.” He jerked his thumb toward the ER. “He wants to see you, and I want you to get him out of my hospital before I have to convince any more nurses that they imagined skin sealing back up on its own.” Shifter flesh could mend itself. Not a perfect repair—the flesh would be lined with a faint red scar at the wound site, but it was still a damn amazing trick.
A genetic trait she’d always loved.
He spun away from them just as Miller arrived. “Hey,” he began, eyes on the doctor’s retreating back, “is that the doctor who—”
“Shifter’s ready to talk,” Sadie cut through his words, deciding, for now, not to mention the full details of her conversation with the doctor. She knew a scared man when she saw one, and if she told Miller about the doctor right then, well, Micco’s choices would be ripped away.
Like hers and Liam’s had been.
He whistled. “Damn, that was fast. Thought the cat was dead.”
She was already marching toward the swinging doors, with Liam at her side. “Well, you know the old saying, cats have nine lives.” More than that, really.
“Yeah,” Miller muttered behind her, “but I think that shifter used up about twelve.”
True.
Liam’s hand shoved open the green door.
They stepped inside.
And found the shifter on his feet, clothed in a loose hospital gown, with fangs bared and claws up.
Oh, hell.
No wonder the doctor was freaking out.
Liam’s first instinct was to fight. To go in punching and slashing with his own claws, but Sadie stepped in front of him, chilling the blood in his veins and making him realize that his lady walked on the wild side way too much.
“It’s all right.” Her voice was pitched low. “We’re not here to hurt you.”
The shifter’s eyes, bright, glassy green, locked right on her. “I smell you,” he spat. “I know what you are.” That stare shot to Liam. “And what you are.”
“We didn’t do this to you.” Still low, soothing. Sadie crept toward him. They were lucky, all of the nurses and doctors had cleared out, probably courtesy of Dr. Micco. “We didn’t—”
“I know who the hell did this to me!” Fury. Pain. “The bastard who’s spent thirty years trying to kill me. Thirty damn years.” His blond mane shook. “He didn’t succeed before, and he won’t.”
Liam kept his attention fully on the shifter. Sadie might feel pity for the man, after the hell he’d been through, but Liam knew a wounded beast was one seriously dangerous beast. One most likely to bite off the hand that wanted to help him.
No one would be biting Sadie but him.
If he had to throw the shifter across the room to protect her, he was more than ready for the job.
She still wants me. She’d looked at him with honest desire in her eyes. She knew the truth about him, and she still wanted him.
Hell, no, he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt so much as a single hair on her gorgeous head.
“Ease up, shifter,” he ordered, aware of Miller stumbling to a stop behind him. “We pulled your body out of that dump and saved your hide.”
“Hell. Knew we should have killed him.” Miller’s quiet mutter.
The shifter’s head snapped up. “What?” His nostrils flared. “You. The trigger happy moron.”
Uh-oh. Looked like the shifter hadn’t been quite as out of it as they’d thought.
Silence.
Then Miller brushed past Liam. Liam lifted his brows but made no move to stop the man. If Miller wanted a beating, fine by him.
“That’s Special Agent Miller, cat. And, yeah, I’m the one who almost put a bullet in your head.” His right hand brushed back his jacket, revealing his weapon.
Didn’t the guy understand that if the shifter decided to attack, he’d never have time to so much as draw his weapon?
Apparently not because Miller continued, “When I got dead women in the city, butchered women, I don’t play nice. The last vic is alive, thank Christ, but—”
The shifter was on him in an instant. “Su is alive?” Hope had his face lighting up like some kind of candle.
Ah. Sadie glanced back, met Liam’s gaze. No denying the connection there.
He gave a slight nod.
“Liam saved her,” Sadie said. “She’s in this hospital, recovering and—”
“What the hell?” Miller shook off the shifter’s hold. “Why are you telling him?”
“Because now, he’s going to tell us some information.” Her left eyebrow raised. “Aren’t you, shifter? Tit for tat. You wanna know about the vic, you tell us about the bastard who tried to slice you open.”
Tried? The guy had been sliced open.
The shifter’s shoulders fell. He turned around, paced a few steps away, and gave Liam an unfortunate view of his arse, courtesy of the gaping gown.
Liam glanced up, found Sadie getting the same view. He snarled.
The shifter spun back around. “He—he’s my brother. Michael Munroe.” He gestured to his face. “Twin brother, but I guess you already knew that, huh?”
Liam stared into the face that was the perfect reflection of a killer’s. “He set you up—you know that, right? He wanted us to find your body and think that you were the killer.”
A nod.
“Where is he?” A demand from Sadie.
“I don’t know, I—”
“He has to have a safe house around here. Friends. Hunting grounds.” She pushed relentlessly. “Tell us. We can’t let another woman die!”
“Dammit, I know that!” His hands shot into the air. “Don’t you think I fucking hate him? He took Su!”
“Just who is this Su to you?” Miller asked. “A lover—”
“She could have been.” His shoulders fell. “She could have been…everything.”
Almost helplessly, Liam’s gaze rose to Sadie.
Everything.
Poor bastard. He knew just how the guy felt.
“Now, she’ll never be mine.” Desolation washed across his face. “Because of that sick asshole!”
“Where is he?” Sadie asked the question again.
“I don’t know.” His lips pressed together for a moment, then, “Hiding. Waiting. Getting ready to watch the news and see the story about the dead body that was found—my body.”
A story he wouldn’t see and he’d become enraged.
“You’re coming with us,” Miller said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Until this bastard’s caught and I know for absolute certain that you weren’t involved.”
“Involved? I’m not a killer!”
“Sure you are.” Miller glanced from his face to the claws that were still out. “Everyone is, human and Other, deep inside. All that matters is how much of a push it takes to get the killer out.”
Liam knew that, for once, Miller spoke the truth.
“You stay under guard,” Miller continued. “Until your brother’s body is at my feet.”
They took the shifter to a safe house, one surrounded by guards who were Other.
Sadie tossed a suitcase onto the floor near the guy, Kyle. Kyle Munroe. Miller had sent an agent out to get clothes for him. “You should have everything you need.”
Liam waited for her, just outside the room. She hesitated. She knew she should go but—
“You don’t have to pity me.” The man’s shoulders were stiff, his back to her. Clad now in green scrubs—courtesy of Dr. Micco—he wasn’t flashing golden skin any longer.
His words had her flushing. “I-I don’t.” Okay, she did. The guy’s brother was a psychotic who’d tried to kill him. She had a brother who faced devils to protect her.
“I might not be able to see, but it doesn’t mean I’m weak.” Harsh.
Her lips parted in surprise. “No, it’s not because of—”
He turned toward her and his eyes zeroed instantly on to her face. “You’re five-foot-two, one hundred fifteen pounds. You’ve got blond hair, you use rose-scented shampoo, and you’ve been fucking the vampire who is pacing outside the door.”
Her brows rose.
“I can’t see, but I can hear, smell, taste, and feel everything.”
Yeah, shifters had incredible senses, she sure knew that. Hers were far, far superior to any human’s.
“My remaining senses are stronger than other shifters’.” Said simply. “Like they kicked into high gear to make up for my eyes.”
She’d heard about something like that happening with humans.
“I don’t need sight—no, forget that.” He drew in a deep breath and stalked forward, stopping inches away. “I was lying earlier, I can see, I just don’t use my broken eyes to do it.”
“Sadie.” Liam’s voice. He stood in the doorway, face tense and black eyes on Kyle.
She held up her hand. “It’s okay, Liam.” Time for truth. “And I was lying, too, Munroe.”
His lips parted. “I knew—”
“I pity you because you had the shit-screwed luck to be born with that asshole as your brother and that he hurt you.” Probably more than the guy would ever reveal. “But I don’t pity you for any other reason.” She’d be a fool if she did. She could feel the man’s power. “Got it?”
Maybe someone else would think that a shifter without vision was weak, but she knew her kind too well.
No shifter was weak. Ever. They were the most dangerous hunters in the world.
And she pitied anyone who thought otherwise.
He inhaled. “Got it.”
“Good.” She stepped back. “If you think of anything else to tell us, Moody’s outside.” The giant demon with the snake tattoos was a damn fine guard. “Let him know and he’ll get word to Liam or me.”
Liam wasn’t looking real happy right then. He stood in the doorway, filling the space, and his burning glare focused on Kyle.
“Do you…know how she is?” Sounded like the words had been ripped from the shifter.
Sadie didn’t have to ask who “she” was. “Su hasn’t woken up yet.” Su Kent, the victim Liam had managed to rescue.
Su Kent, age thirty-two. Art director at the Miami Museum. Her mother had immigrated from Thailand and married Jonathan Kent, an ex-Marine.
“Is she gonna make it?”
“I think so.” She hoped so. From all accounts, Su Kent was a genuinely good person, a pretty rare thing. She donated food to the needy, taught an after-school art program for disadvantaged kids, and even had a recycling bin at her house. Yeah, Miller had checked her out thoroughly.
A nice lady. One who sure hadn’t deserved the horror she’d suffered.
Sadie walked to Liam.
Just like he hadn’t deserved the horror that had happened to him and his team.
Sometimes, life really sucked.
“I-I’ll help you.” Kyle’s rushed words had her glancing back at him. “I want Michael stopped. My whole life my parents hated me because of the way I was. Said I was weak.”
The pain on his face was gut-wrenching.
“Michael made my life hell. You don’t know what he did all those years—” He broke off, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter.”
But she thought it did.
“I survived,” he continued. “But he’s not going to, not this time.”
“We’ll stop him,” Sadie told him, meaning the words. “He’s not going to hurt anyone else.”
Yeah, they’d stop the bastard—once they found him.
The shifter whore was with the vampire again. Walking with him, his arm around her shoulders, flesh pressed to flesh.
She was with the parasite, all but purring up at him.
She knew better.
He snarled and lowered his binoculars.
Binoculars—human invention, one that was coming in handy. He couldn’t risk getting close enough for the female to smell him—or close enough for his freak of a brother to catch his scent with that hyped-up nose of his.
Should have cut off Kyle’s nose years ago. Should have killed him years ago.
‘Course, he’d tried—and nearly succeeded more times than he could count.
Lucky bastard. That luck wouldn’t last forever. He’d make sure of it.
But she’d been the one to save his brother this time. Sadie James. Tough agent. Sexy bitch.
Soon-to-be dead woman.
The vampire bent and pressed a kiss to her temple.
The binoculars seemed to explode in his hand. Glass, metal, and blood fell from his fingers.
Blood.
Sadie had given her blood to the vampire. Freely given blood and body. She wasn’t a worthy adversary. Not a shifter of skill to fight and challenge.
She was garbage. A whore who’d spread her legs too quickly for the undead.
She’d pay for that. Pay for desecrating their kind.
It was time for the hunt to come to an end.
Time for Sadie James to die.
He wouldn’t lose her.
Liam held Sadie close, his arms tight around her as they hurried up the steps to her house.
The desolation on the shifter’s face when he’d asked about his Su—
No, that wasn’t the end Liam would have with Sadie. He wasn’t giving her up. Wasn’t going to live his life, hell, such as it was, without her.
The instant the door shut behind them, his mouth was on hers. The need and the blinding lust had his body shaking. His cock was rock hard, fully erect, and ready to thrust into her tight sex.
Her lips and tongue met his with the same feverish intensity. He could taste the hunger on her tongue. Wild fever.
Fuck, yes.
She clawed at his shirt, shredding the material so that her hands could get to his flesh. Her fingers curled over his muscles, hot hands that sent sparks dancing over his body.
A purr rumbled in her throat and his cock jerked in hungry anticipation.
Her fingers went to the buckle of his belt.
Liam ripped his mouth from hers. “No!”
Her eyes widened. So gold. And her lips were so red and wet and—
He picked her up, took five steps into the dining room and spread her out on the table.
Fucking beautiful. He’d wanted to make a meal of her all night.
Her lips curved in a slow smile as she kicked off her shoes.
I’d die for her. The realization hit him as he watched her beautiful smile. Lie. Kill. Die. Anything she wanted. He was lost. And so desperate for her. A taste. Liam had to have a taste. It had been too long.
He caught the waist of her pants. Jerked the soft cotton down, and snagged the scrap of lace that shielded her secrets at the same time.
Sadie tossed her shirt away and unhooked her bra, showing those perfect lick-me breasts.
He caught her nipple with his mouth. Sucked and licked and tasted the sweet flavor of her flesh. The scent of her arousal filled the air around him. Rich. Tempting.
Her hands were on his back. Stroking and pulling him closer.
Liam freed her breast, only to immediately turn his attention to the other pink nipple. She tasted good.
And he was going to taste more.
So much more.
He licked his lips when he rose. “Spread your legs.”
The table was a dark cherry beneath her, making her skin seem to shine in stark contrast.
Unbelievable—
Her legs parted, showing him the plump, pink folds of her aroused flesh. Pink and wet and perfect.
Liam’s mouth captured her. Pressed tight to that sweet center and took.
Tongue and lips teased her. Pushed against the button of her desire. Tasted the silky flesh open to him.
Liam took from her like a man starving, because he was. The more he tasted, the more he hungered. His tongue drove into her body, the need for her essence burning down to his very soul.
He heard her shout of release, felt the ripples of her climax.
Still he took.
The taste he’d longed for in his dreams.
“Liam!” Sadie, demanding as she pulled his hair. “Th-this time…you…inside.”
His cock was about to explode so that sounded like a damn fine idea to him. One final swipe of his tongue, then—
He shoved his jeans down. Caught his cock in one hand and pushed the broad head between her thighs.
Creamy flesh.
Liam sank into her.
Their eyes met.
He withdrew. Thrust deep.
Her breath choked out. He could see the edge of her teeth.
Her muscles clamped around him.
So. Damn. Tight.
They climaxed together, the release slamming through them. Liam held her tight, drinking the cries from her lips and knowing that he’d found—
Everything.
All, with his Sadie.
Dammit…why, why couldn’t a monster have a chance at love?
Someone was pounding at the door. Sadie blinked, forcing the sleep from her eyes so that she could glare at the bedside clock. Ten fifteen.
Not exactly the crack of dawn, but then, she hadn’t gotten to sleep until after six that morning.
An arm rested over her stomach. A strong thigh caged her legs.
She smiled, catching sight of Liam’s tousled hair. He liked to hold her when he slept. She rather liked that. Made her feel…wanted. Ah, that was—
“James! Dammit, James, I know you hear me! Freakin’ cat ears—you probably heard me drive up!” The pounding of a fist against her door, then Miller shouted, “Get your clothes on and open this door! We’ve got a situation—”
“That man needs an ass kicking,” she muttered.
“Yeah, he does,” Liam growled.
Sadie smiled at that and kissed his bare shoulder before she managed to slide free of his grasp. She grabbed her robe and belted it quickly. “Remind me to give him one.”
Liam didn’t get out of the bed. Not that she blamed him. Daylight and vampires really didn’t mix well. His kind were too weak when the sun rose, often suffering headaches and nausea—no wonder they preferred the nightlife.
She hurried across the room and took the stairs three at a time, adrenaline beginning to kick in her blood. When Sadie jerked open her front door, Miller was still shouting.
His eyes widened when he saw her, his stare sweeping from her hair—and, oh, yeah, she knew it had to look wild, courtesy of Liam’s fingers—to her bare thighs. Her silky black robe was short, she hated having her legs trapped by too much fabric. Leopards sometimes had confinement issues.
But she didn’t mind it when Liam held her tight in bed. No, she didn’t mind that confinement at all.
Miller drew in a hard breath. “What? Do you spend all your free time screwing vampires?”
Ass kicking. Her hands dropped to her sides. One more minute, and she’d let her claws out. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep for this shit. “Do you spend all your time being a prick?”
Miller blinked. “Yeah, pretty much.”
What?
His gaze drifted over her shoulder as he frowned. “Tell Sleeping Beauty to wake his butt up, I need him.”
“Daytime’s not exactly his peak performance time.” A fact Miller knew.
“I don’t need his strength.” Miller looked back at her. “I need his contacts.”
Her brow furrowed. Behind her, she heard the creak of the stairs. “What’s happening?” She stepped back, knowing that she had to let Miller inside.
The door closed with a soft click. “Kent’s awake and, unfortunately, her memory of the attack is crystal clear.”
Sadie winced. Uh-oh. “Has she…started telling the hospital staff about what happened?” If she had, she’d either be headlining the news soon or she’d find herself shipped off to the psych ward for the foreseeable future.
“She told Micco. He was in the room when she opened her eyes and started screaming about men with claws and fangs.”
A soft footfall behind her. A moment later, Liam’s hand pressed against her back. “What do you want me to do? I can’t make her forget. You know I can’t work Thrall yet.”
Thrall. The old vamp term for the ability to control a victim’s mind. To get the unwilling to surrender, to bare a throat and beg to be Taken.
Born Masters had the ability with their first kill. For others, age brought the power, and, in terms of a vamp’s age, Liam was still a newborn.
Though not quite as defenseless.
“You know the demons in this city, better than anyone. Even Moody.”
Yeah, well, Sadie knew Moody wasn’t exactly popular among his kind. Demons didn’t tend to think too highly of anybody who looked or acted like a cop.
And Moody had been a cop for ten years before joining the Bureau.
“Do any of them still owe you favors?” Miller pushed.
Sadie glanced back at Liam. Dealing in favors—the way of the human world and the Other.
A nod. “A few.”
“Good, ’cause you’re gonna have to call in markers today.”
Liam lifted his hand and pressed his fingers against his forehead. “What do you need?” What, not who.
He knew the game.
Miller flashed his shark’s smile. “A level eight or nine demon, the stronger the better.”
Level eight or nine. Sadie exhaled slowly. Demon power was on a scale from one to ten. The low level demons, the ones to threes, were barely any threat to the human population. It was the high level demons that the people feared. Those above a level seven distinction, or L7, were trouble.
Powerful. Deadly.
Level tens—they were the hell-on-earth guys with their supernatural powers. But a level nine—well, he or she sure wouldn’t be someone to take lightly. Especially considering that one with that much power might be able to rip away the mind of a human.
“You sure about this?” she asked Miller.
“No choice, James. We need help. Someone has to make Ms. Kent forget all about her trip to hell.”
A perfect job for a demon.
The woman on the bed was covered in stark white bandages. Her straight black hair fell around her face and her almond-shaped eyes blazed with fear.
“I know you.” Her voice was a broken rasp.
Liam hesitated just inside the doorway. “Do you now?” Yes, that was part of the problem.
A tear leaked from her left eye and she began to shake, then to scream, with a voice long gone hoarse. Horrible, gasping gurgles sprang from her throat.
“The bastard tortured her for hours,” Miller said, shaking his head. He stood at the foot of Su Kent’s bed, hands clenched behind his back. “Micco wants to send her to a psych ward—”
Where she’d probably stay for a long, long time.
Especially if she started talking about men who could become real monsters.
Su stopped screaming and fell back against the mattress. Liam noticed the straps that were tied to her wrists, anchoring her to the bed. He took a cautious step forward.
She flinched and turned her head away. “S-stop…M-make it all…st-stop…”
Her pain and fear filled the room.
I’ll find the bastard. And I’ll stop him from hurting anyone else ever again.
“Su.” He said her name quietly.
Another man stepped into the room behind him and the door closed almost soundlessly.
The woman on the bed didn’t move.
“Su.” He walked around the bed. Stopped beside her and saw that her dark eyes were open, but staring at nothing.
No, staring at a nightmare only she could see.
He reached for her hand. Damn. She was cold.
Her lips parted and Liam was afraid the woman was about to start screaming again.
“I never hurt you.” He spoke to her as another tear rolled down her cheek. She stared right through him. “I hurt him. I stopped him before he could do anything else to you.”
“Cl-claws…and t-teeth…” Dry heaves shook her chest.
Liam swallowed and wondered if she was talking about the shifter or him.
“I didn’t hurt you,” he repeated, trying to reach her. He wished Sadie were there. She always had a much softer touch than he did.
But Miller had sent her back out to that damn bloody building downtown. He’d wanted Sadie and her team to canvas the area to see if anyone knew anything about Michael Munroe—and to make certain the bastard hadn’t left any telling tracks that would help them nail him.
Sadie was the best hunter they had. She hadn’t been with the unit that swept the building the night before, and Miller was worried as hell they’d missed something without her.
But she sure would have been handy right then. With her soothing voice and understanding eyes, she would have been able to reach the shattered Su.
“Hurt…I-I hurt…s-so much. C-can’t forget…”
“Do you want to?” He knew Miller’s attention was locked on them. Her response was very, very important.
Her head moved in the briefest of nods.
Not good enough. Miller wanted him to help wipe out Su’s memories. Before he gave the demon standing so still next to the door the all clear, he wanted to make absolutely certain Su understood what was happening.
She’d have a choice in this, no matter what Miller wanted.
“Tell me, Su. Tell me what you want.”
“T-to for…get…” Her swollen lips trembled. “Go back…like before.”
Wouldn’t be exactly like before.
But it wouldn’t be like surviving hell, either.
“I can do that. I can take all the bad memories away.”
Her hand twisted, grabbed his with desperate strength and her eyes finally locked on his. No, finally saw him. “Do it.” The clearest thing she’d said.
The choice was made.
The demon stepped forward.
The building reeked of the leopard. Sadie stood outside the old building on Burns and Montay, her nose wrinkling. That bastard had left his scent everywhere.
“Probably living here,” she muttered to the two men at her back. Humans, but they knew the hunt wasn’t for a normal killer. “His stench is too strong.”
“Crime scene guys found traces of blood in two other rooms on the second floor.” This came from Derek Martin, the blond agent who liked to keep one hand close to his gun at all times. Smart fellow. “Matched it to Donna Summers and Theresa Kite.”
The first two victims. No, the two victims they knew about. Sadie was sure there’d been more.
Michael Munroe hadn’t been a good little choirboy his whole life. There’d been other kills, but in Miami, he’d just stopped hiding the bodies.
Cocky asshole. Taunting the cops and scaring the humans.
“So this is where he brought his prey.” The sun was starting to set, the red glow falling over the building like a shadow made of blood.
She’d already walked the streets for most of the day. Talked to every person she could find in the area, but no one remembered Michael Munroe.
It wasn’t like the guy was easy to forget.
“We’re going over this building,” she said, pulling out her latex gloves. “Every single room.” Every single inch. Six stories, twelve rooms per floor. Sure, the building had been searched three times already—
But not by her.
Her nostrils flared. That scent was driving her crazy. The jerk sure had marked his turf. “Let’s get this done.” Her stomach was in knots. “I want to find this bastard.” She had to find him and stop him before he tortured and killed another woman.
The straps were gone from Su’s wrists. She lay against the mattress, tears drying on her cheeks.
“That it?” Miller asked, frowning at the demon.
Charles LaMoyne gave a nod, then glanced at Liam. “You’re in my debt now, Sullivan.”
Just where he wanted to be, owing a demon. Liam inclined his head.
“I’ll collect payment one of these days.” A smile, not the friendly kind. “Count on it.”
He would.
Charles turned away and headed for the door.
It had taken most of the day to find the demon. He wasn’t one to advertise his presence in the city. Most of the strongest Other liked to keep to the shadows.
The better to watch the game mortals played.
LaMoyne hadn’t helped the human out of the goodness of his heart. As far as Liam knew, there wasn’t much goodness in there. But Liam had saved his hide a year ago, when he’d stopped a human under Thrall from taking the demon’s head.
He’d hoped for an even debt exchange.
Should have known he’d have to pay a bit more for the help. Most demons didn’t do favors for humans. LaMoyne had made a big exception for him.
Liam glanced back at the woman. Her eyes were closing and she looked almost…peaceful.
Maybe she’d stay that way.
LaMoyne’s psychic talent was shading memories and twisting truth. When Su woke up again, she’d have the images from a car wreck in her mind, perfect memories to match her injuries.
She’d remember the squeal of tires and the crunch of metal—
But not the claws of monsters.
Liam turned away from her. He was bone tired, but, luckily, the sun would be down soon.
Maybe the headache pounding at the front of his skull would end then.
Hmmm…or maybe he should take a quick swing by phlebotomy for a little pick-me-up.
When Sadie stepped onto the second floor, every muscle in her body tightened.
Blood and death were in the air, so thick she nearly choked.
Liam had fought here.
Women had died.
And that sick freak had played.
His stench was so much stronger here. Her eyes narrowed. Stronger…and fresher.
Her claws cut through the latex.
Liam froze just outside of the elevator bank at Hudson Hospital.
For just an instant, he could have sworn that he’d caught a whiff of Sadie’s scent.
But, no, that was crazy. She wasn’t even close by. She was on the other side of town, searching that damn building.
A whisper of fear, a spike of anger.
Blood link.
Hell.
He attacked her first. Michael Munroe sprang from the room on the left, a fully formed leopard, and swiped his claws across her flesh.
Sadie fell onto the floor, hard, and heard gunshots blast around her. Her skin burned, blood soaked her shirt, and she knew that she was in serious trouble.
Lying in wait.
Leopards were patient hunters.
A man’s scream.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to rise. She managed to get to her knees and she pulled out her gun.
She’d save the claws and teeth this time, a bullet would work.
The leopard was crouched over Derek, his claws less than an inch away from the man’s throat.
The second agent, Collier Dulane, was on the floor, his eyes closed.
The leopard’s ears twitched and those claws moved in for the kill.
“No!” Her scream was guttural. She could take the shot, but Derek would die. Those claws were too close.
Shit.
The leopard snarled at her.
Her fingers tightened around the gun. Without the weapon, she was a dead woman. There wouldn’t be enough time to shift before he attacked.
Liam.
She needed him.
Her eyes dropped to Derek. His neck was twisted to the side and he stared at her, realization in his eyes.
Do it. He mouthed the words.
If she dropped her weapon, the leopard would attack her, she knew it.
And she knew that he’d kill Derek either way.
No. No, Derek was on her team, she couldn’t let him—
The leopard roared.
So did she.
Then she fired.
The bullet hit the leopard dead center in his outstretched paw, exploding through muscle and bone, then slamming into the wall just beyond him.
Derek managed to roll to the side, pushing hard to his feet.
The leopard rammed into him. The agent’s head hit the wall and he went down.
Sadie fired again. She hadn’t been able to aim for head or heart with the first bullet, and he was moving too fast now to get a clear shot. Only the head or heart would stop him. She fired—again and again.
The leopard sprang at her and the beast within Sadie roared again for her freedom.
Sadie.
For a moment, her image swam before him. He felt a white-hot lance of pain across his chest. The cold splash of blood.
Then—nothing.
Terror had his heart nearly stopping. The blood link between them had grown so strong that he knew what was happening to her.
He was losing Sadie.
Hell, no.
Liam forgot about the elevator and ran for the stairs. Screw the damn sunlight that was still fighting the night. Sadie needed him.
Hold on, a thaisce. My treasure. And, dammit, she fucking was. The only thing of value in his world.
Hold on.
A red haze filled her vision. Blood. Hers. His. The leopard was in control of Sadie now, and she was fighting for her life—
And the lives of her two agents.
Pain was constant. The attack from him had been vicious. The guy outweighed her by a good forty pounds in animal form, and he had insanity on his side, always an advantage for a killer.
But she wasn’t powerless. Sadie had rage and her desperate desire to stay alive.
So she fought him. Every slash of his claws led to an assault from hers. She wasn’t letting him leave this room. He wouldn’t kill again.
His teeth clamped on to her shoulder.
And another growl rumbled from the doorway.
Through the fury, she saw him, coming like an avenging angel—no, more like a pissed-off devil.
Another leopard. Golden fur lined with the dark rosettes of her kind. Mouth open in a snarl. Teeth glistening with saliva.
She recognized his scent immediately, even before she saw his glassy stare.
Kyle.
He launched across the room, his hind legs kicking back to send him soaring. His teeth locked on to Michael, ripped and tore, and the scent of blood deepened.
Sadie took a moment, panting, gathering her strength. This was it. She could feel the approaching kill in the air.
No escape. Michael Munroe was about to answer for his crimes.
And she didn’t think the devil was gonna cut him any slack.
Her whiskers quivered as she leaned down in a crouch, waiting for the perfect moment to join the growling, biting blur that was the other leopards.
Now. She shot forward, teeth and claws ready.
Together, she and Kyle took the killer down, and his furious cries echoed around them until—
Silence.
Then the snap of bones.
Sadie and Kyle eased back. The battle was over. The leopard had shifted, an automatic survival instinct. Michael Munroe’s wounds were deep. His choice was either shift or die.
When the transformation was over, Michael lay naked on the floor, breath choking out.
Sadie let the white-hot fire of the change sweep over her. The guy wasn’t in any shape to attack now. She had to check on her men and get them an ambulance ASAP.
She didn’t care about her nudity. Her clothes had shredded when she shifted into the cat. She’d been badly wounded, was still hurt—the shift hadn’t healed her completely—but thanks to her rush of adrenaline, the injuries barely slowed her down. Kyle was snarling over his brother, so that situation seemed under control. Now her priority was her men. Men who looked like they were stepping too close to the cold door of death.
Derek groaned. He tried to raise his arm, but his hand dropped back to the floor. Sadie scrambled around him, searching desperately to find the cell phone she’d lost. Ambulance. Humans couldn’t survive this kind of abuse without help. She had to get an ambulance—
The quiet snick of a gun’s safety release whispered in her ears. She turned, too slowly, and saw that Michael had managed to get a gun. In a split second, she recognized it as Derek’s weapon. She’d seen it fly across the room earlier, then forgotten about it in the snap of teeth and the swipe of claws.
Kyle, still in leopard form, snarled and swiped with his claws just as Michael fired at him.
The leopard fell.
Then, smiling, bleeding, Michael turned the gun on her—
And he fired again.
Liam froze just outside the building on Montay. All of the breath left his lungs in a rush and fire exploded in the middle of his chest.
The pain drove him to his knees.
A pain that wasn’t his.
No.
He tried to rise, but fell onto the cement. “Sadie.”
She was slipping away from him. He knew it, and the pain seemed to rip his heart apart.
He’d reached her too late.
Tires squealed behind him. Doors slammed.
“Sullivan? Sullivan!” Miller grabbed Liam and jerked him to his feet.
The pain began to fade and an icy numbness took its place. He stared up at the building, now covered by the darkness of night.
“Is Sadie here? We can’t get her team to answer us, there’s no contact—”
Miller’s voice was buzzing in his ear.
Yeah, she was there. He could feel her.
But for how long? She was hurt, bad, and he knew the cruel bitch that was fate was trying to steal his Sadie away.
Not going to fucking happen.
He’d never forget his first sight of that room. The blood. The bodies.
Sadie lying like a broken doll, her lashes still against her too white cheeks.
He fell to his knees beside her. Touched her face. Slowly, so slowly, her lashes lifted. Her golden eyes didn’t glow. They barely shined at all, and they were full of so much pain.
“Sh-shot her…”
His head jerked up at the hoarse whisper. Kyle Munroe was pushing himself off the floor. “M-missed my h-heart…” Liam saw the hole in his chest then. Damn, weren’t shifters supposed to heal from—
“B-but he got h-hers…”
The room spun.
No, no that wasn’t possible, he’d know, he’d—
Hear the rush of her blood spilling out. The broken beat as her heart struggled. Bullet had clipped the side. Too damaged, can’t work, weakening.
“B-bastard’s d-dead now.”
Liam didn’t even glance toward the body. He could smell the stench of death.
“B-but he-he got h-her.”
“The hell he did!” His arms were tight around her. He wouldn’t look at her chest. No, he didn’t want to see the wound, but he could feel it, as if his own chest had been ripped open.
“You’re not goin’ anywhere, Sadie, you hear me?” He was rocking her, back and forth, faster and faster.
Her eyes were open, but her pupils were locked. Her breath barely seemed to whisper past her pale lips.
How the hell is she even still alive? The question blasted through his mind, terrifying him.
But he knew the answer. A shifter’s strength. Right then, he thanked the God he’d forgotten two years ago, then whispered a prayer for his forgiveness.
Because Liam knew what he was going to do.
“Stay with me, a thaisce.” His fingers brushed over her neck. His head lowered and his mouth hovered over her throat.
Would she want this life?
An insidious whisper from within that he ignored.
His teeth pressed against her flesh. The blood flowed faster from her now, but the scent didn’t tempt him.
It scared the hell out of him.
“Sadie…” No more time to waste. She wouldn’t have any blood left to take soon.
His teeth pierced her flesh. Blood trickled onto his tongue.
Sadie. Don’t leave me.
“What the hell are you doing, Sullivan?” Miller grabbed him, trying to force Liam to release his hold on Sadie. “That’s not what she wants—”
Liam raised his head, a rumble rolling in his throat. He wasn’t about to let her go. “Fuck off!” A scream of fury that shook the room. “She’s not dying. She’s too strong. She’s—”
Needed too much.
He’d just found her again.
How was he supposed to live for centuries without her?
No. No, he couldn’t.
“She doesn’t want this.” Absolute certainty. “We can get her to a hospital. They can stitch her up, fix her like they did Munroe—”
“She’s got less than a minute left.” His voice broke. He lifted her, cradling her as gently as he could. He braced her, pushing her head toward his throat. Her cool lips skimmed over his skin. “I feel her leaving. If she were human, she’d have died when the bullet drove into her.”
He knew Sadie. Pure shifter will had kept her alive. The beast inside fighting a battle to heal, a battle that couldn’t be won.
Too much blood loss. Not enough strength.
“You can’t do this!” Why was Miller getting a conscience? “She doesn’t want—”
“I know what she fuckin’ wants!”
He knew…and what he knew tore his guts apart.
Sadie wanted her beast. The leopard within that had been a part of her since birth. The leopard that would die if he turned her. He knew the stories. A shifter lost the power to transform when she was reborn as a vampire.
That life ended, and a new one began.
He caught the back of her head in his hand. “Sadie…”
Choices.
Piss. This damn life—always about choices.
He wouldn’t take her choice away. His had been taken away. He wouldn’t do the same thing to Sadie. But he couldn’t just sit there and let her die.
Fuckin’ hell—don’t leave me! A cry that shook his soul.
“L-live…” Rasping.
His eyes widened. He tilted her chin back, stared into the eyes that saw him and held agony.
“Sadie?”
“L-live…”
Sadie James was the strongest woman he’d ever met—and she was a fighter, till death and beyond.
She was choosing—him and life, with seconds to spare.
He bared his throat to her, guided her head because she was too weak, and felt the sharp sting of her teeth.
Live.
Sadie took his blood…and died.
Very, very slowly, Sadie opened her eyes and she found herself lying on a soft bed—her bed. The lights were off and darkness cloaked the room.
But she could see perfectly.
Her nostrils flared and she caught the scent of flowers. The fabric softener she used on her sheets. The vanilla-scented candle she kept in the living room.
She raised her hand to her chest and found the skin healed.
She’d survived.
Part of her had, anyway.
Her fangs were out and the hunger, a great, gnawing hunger for food—no, blood—had her belly clenching.
The door squeaked open and her gaze shot across the room to zero in on Liam.
He stared at her, not speaking, and she could see the worry on his face.
Her hands clenched around the sheets.
“Sadie…” He shook his head. “Do you know what happened? Do you know—”
“That I’m a vampire?” Yeah, she knew. She remembered everything. Every horrifying moment. She could still feel the twisted thud of her heart. Broken.
She’d known death was coming for her, and while she didn’t fear the other side or what waited, she hadn’t wanted to leave.
It had been too soon.
In that moment, when the fog had cleared from her eyes and she’d seen Liam gazing down at her with such fear on his face, she’d known she would have traded anything, everything she had to stay with him.
Even her beast.
And she had.
“It’s not as bad as you think. You don’t have to kill to live. You can get blood from a hospital.” He swallowed, then said, “You’re not linked to any other vampires, just me. You have no Born Master who can control you. You’ll be as strong as before—you just…have to take it easier during the daytime.” He crossed to her side as the words poured out of him. “You’re still the same, Sadie, you’re—”
“I can’t shift.” Spoken quietly.
His jaw clenched. “No, no, you can’t.”
“But I’m alive.” Some might disagree with that. Screw them. Sadie forced her fingers to ease their death grip and she reached for him. “I’m alive and I’m with you.” She’d made the choice.
She’d made it long before Michael Munroe had taken aim on her in that room.
She’d decided last night when she spooned in bed with Liam, his arms around her. His scent had surrounded her, his whisper of a thaisce had filled her ears. She’d known that she never wanted to leave him. Didn’t matter what he was, didn’t matter what she was.
Being with him—that was her choice. And she’d been fully aware of the consequences all along.
“How long until you hate this? Me?”
Crazy vampire. “Liam, my choice.” Being a vampire might not have been her lifelong dream, but she knew vamps weren’t the heartless killers she’d thought. Like humans, like shifters, some were evil.
And some weren’t.
The facts were simple to Sadie. She was still breathing. Liam was with her. As for that bastard Munroe…“Tell me you killed that murdering shifter.”
Liam shook his head and her heart sank. No, no, he couldn’t still be out there. He couldn’t—
“Kyle finished him off before I could.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
“Seems old Michael made a habit of torturing his brother. Kyle left home when he was sixteen and said he’d hoped to never run across his brother again, but then he caught his scent here one night.”
He’d killed his brother. Talk about a hard choice.
But one that had saved lives. Sadie knew Michael Munroe had developed a taste for the kill. She’d seen his eyes, she knew.
“Michael took Su to send a message to Kyle, didn’t he?” she asked.
He nodded. “Punishment for him, a lure for me.”
But they didn’t have to worry about him any longer. One more killer off the streets.
Pity there were always more out there.
“Can I—can I hold you, Sadie love?”
She blinked, her lips parting in surprise at the question. When had Liam ever asked? When had he needed to? “Yeah, yeah, you can—”
He was on the bed before she’d finished speaking. His arms hard around her, his lips on hers. Kissing her with a feverish passion and a stark intensity.
Her tongue met his. Her arms locked just as fiercely around him…and deep inside, she heard the purr of her leopard.
Sadie froze. What? How?
Liam stiffened against her. “Sadie, no.” The words rumbled against her lips. “Don’t turn away from me. Things can be the same between us. Give your new life a chance. Give me a chance to—”
Her fingers pushed between them. “I am.” His eyes were black. Were hers? Hunger heated her blood, and her teeth had begun to ache.
She wanted to taste him.
To bite him.
But she could have sworn she’d heard her leopard. Felt her.
That was impossible. All the stories said the transformation killed the beast.
And made room for the vampire.
Her fingers caught the V of his shirt. Yanked and sent buttons flying. The white shirt hung loosely on him, now revealing the delicious lines of his muscled chest.
Her mouth was dry.
Need filled her. Desperate desire for his body and his blood.
Sadie rose onto her knees. Her mouth pressed against his flesh. Tasted the sweetness of his skin. She tongued his nipple, and the small nub stiffened with the strokes of her tongue.
His hands smoothed down her back, caught the curves of her bare ass and squeezed.
She bit him. Pierced the flesh right above his nipple with her teeth and tasted the nectar of his blood.
The leopard purred.
The sound was so familiar to her, but it wasn’t a sound she heard with her ears. Only her heart.
As she drank from him, feeling his blood energize her body and send her sensual hunger soaring to a new height, Sadie realized that the stories hadn’t been true, not completely anyway.
“Ah, damn…that feels so…good…” Liam grated and his mouth moved to her throat. His teeth scraped over her flesh. “My turn, love…” and he took her. Mouth. Tongue. Teeth.
Sadie moaned against him. Her nipples tightened and her sex clenched. Her tongue swiped over the small wound she’d made. No wonder vampires were all about blood and sex. It was a freaking great combination.
Liam tumbled her back onto the bed, keeping his teeth on her. In her.
Sadie shoved the sheets out of their way. She was naked and more than ready for him.
The bulge of his arousal shoved against the front of his jeans. She unsnapped the button, eased down the zipper with a hiss—and had the hot, heavy length of his arousal filling her hands.
She licked her lips and thought about having a taste.
Liam’s head rose. His face was brutally hard. Etched into taut lines of need.
“You almost died on me.”
No, correction, she had died. That’s why she was a vampire now.
“Don’t ever fuckin’ do that to me again.” Desperation, she knew it when she heard it.
“I won’t.” Dying wasn’t on her agenda. Having mind-blowing sex, yeah, that was.
The bad guy was dead. She’d survived. And Liam was exactly where she wanted him. Well, almost.
He drove into her. A plunging, driving thrust that had her sucking in a sharp breath because he felt so good.
She still didn’t like things easy, especially not her sex.
Her hips lifted high, drove right back at him. She needed this—the rush of pleasure, the spike of need.
Needed this. Needed him.
Because death hadn’t held her—no, he had. Liam had fought for her and given her a chance to live again.
To spend her days and nights with him.
Her muscles tightened as she thundered toward her release. Her sex was so sensitive, every glide and drive of his cock had her twisting beneath him.
His fingers caught her breasts. Fondled her nipples.
His cock swelled within her, filling her so fully that she nearly screamed.
He withdrew, thrust deep—
And she did scream. Sadie climaxed on a driving wave of pleasure. Her sex clenched around him, squeezing that thick length tightly and she gasped as her body shivered with aftershocks of pulsing heat.
Liam was with her. She felt the hot tide of his release within her. Saw the wild flare of pleasure in his eyes.
Oh, yeah, he was with her. For every single moment.
He kissed her. She tasted his hunger, his pleasure, his need.
And knew that he tasted hers.
A rumble trembled in her throat.
Liam lifted his head. “Sadie?”
Not a rumble, really, more of a purr.
His lips curved into a smile. “I love you, Sadie James.”
Her heartbeat had just begun to slow. The beat immediately kicked up.
“Spend forever with me?” he asked, eyes flickering from black to blue.
Beautiful blue eyes.
“Try to stop me,” she whispered. “Because I sure as hell love you too, Liam Sullivan.” She’d loved him for years.
Loved him.
Mourned him.
Missed him.
Hell, no, he wasn’t about to get away from her again. She’d cheated death for her chance with him.
Forever.
She smiled and kissed him again.
And the leopard was content.
Forty-eight hours later, Sadie James stepped into the night with her vampire lover by her side. The stars shimmered so brightly that even the lights of the city couldn’t lessen their glow. Music beat in a steady drumbeat, coming from the clubs downtown. Voices, whispers, filled her ears, and the scents from the city had her nose flaring.
Her senses were almost as advanced as before. Her strength was still ten times better than a human’s.
Sure, the blood hunger would take a bit more adjusting, but all in all, Sadie thought she was doing damn well for an undead woman.
Of course, when her brother found out about her new, um, life choice and lover choice, Jacob probably wouldn’t be thrilled.
Serious understatement, she knew.
But he was her brother, and unlike that twisted freak Michael Munroe, he’d be glad she wasn’t lying in a morgue somewhere. Fangs and blood hunger—he’d learn to deal with them. She knew her brother. He’d rage and then he’d hug her until she felt like he was squeezing her to death.
Brothers. Sometimes they were great. Sometimes they were devils.
Liam’s fingers closed around hers. She glanced at him, unable to stop the curve of her lips.
Being this happy should be illegal. She was with Liam. The night was beautiful, and, deep inside, her leopard stretched.
She couldn’t shift anymore, but her leopard hadn’t died. She was inside, safe, with a spirit ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Liam brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her palm. She felt the wet swipe of his tongue.
And the surge of her pulse.
That man could turn her on. But they had a job to do. As tempted as she was to go back inside and jump his sexy bones, Miller was waiting to brief them on another case. Always another case.
“Ready to go?” Liam’s deep voice stroked over her.
“Yeah.” No, but the sex would wait.
After all, they had plenty of time.
And, as vampires, plenty of stamina.
“Another night, another city full of killers,” he murmured.
Story of their afterlife.
Her fingers tightened around his. “Let’s go hunting.” Her leopard wanted to play.
She saw the white flash of his teeth as he grinned. Those teeth would be in her neck by morning and she’d love it. Love it.
But for now, they had work to do. Miller waited.
And so did the night.
Such a beautiful night.
Her partner was by her side—a man who would always have her back. He’d fight to the death and beyond for her, she knew it. No more hunting alone, ever.
He’d have her back, and he’d be in her bed.
A perfect team.
The killers they tracked, the monsters gone bad, they wouldn’t know what hit them.
Time for the games to begin.