Would he?
“S-stop,” she said.
“Make me,” he ordered her again.
His body seemed harder. Stronger. He wasn’t shifting—oh, he’d better not be shifting.
“Duncan?” Yes, okay, fear had the word trembling.
“When a werewolf bites his chosen mate,” and his fingers were on the side of her neck, “it’s a mark that tells all the other wolves to stay the hell away. A mark that says…mine.”
She knew how the wolf rules went. She’d done the paranormal classes that the agents took, too.
“I look at you,” his words were deeper, darker. “And think…mine.”
“You’re trying to s-scare me.” Trying. Succeeding.
“No. I’m telling you what is.” His head lowered to her neck. His teeth skimmed over her frantically racing pulse. “You won’t get away from me.”
She didn’t think it was the man who spoke the words, but the beast he’d become. The wolf inside that thought in primitive terms of possession and claiming.
Holly lifted her hands and tried to shove him back. “Stop.” He couldn’t claim her. A werewolf claiming was forever. Or rather, until death. Because werewolves had been known to kill their mates instead of letting them escape.
“Make me,”he snarled.
His hold was so much tighter. Harder. His hips were pressing against hers, and she could feel the light sting of his teeth on her neck.
The situation was out of control. He was out of control. They were supposed to be working together. Getting Saul.
“Duncan…”
His head lifted. His eyes stared down at hers. They were glowing—the gold and blue so bright. Far more beast than man. In that instant, she knew that he wasn’t stopping. Not unless she made him.
Her wild heartbeat shook her chest. She stared into his eyes. Felt fear and adrenaline heat her blood. “Let me go.” Her words didn’t shake. They just came from her, whispered softly.
His jaw clenched.
“Step away from me.” Her heart raced faster. Adrenaline had her fingers trembling as she pushed against his chest. “And get your hands off me.”
His teeth snapped together. And he backed away.
“Get control of your beast,” she said, flattening her hands against the wall behind her. “Get that control now.”
His shoulders rolled. His claws turned back into regular nails, and the wildness faded from his eyes.
They stared at each other, breath heaving.
I did it. But, just to be sure, she blurted, “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” he said instantly.
And her heart hurt. “Right.” Softer. She nodded. “I think that ends our little experiment, doesn’t it?”
He blinked. His eyes were still feverishly bright, shining in the night.
“I guess I just had to be scared enough.” Her head tipped back against the bricks as she stared up at the dark sky. “That was the purpose of that little scene, right? You were trying to scare me into losing control so I’d be able to use the vamp power?” Maybe that had been the key. He’d made her shake with fear for a moment there, but, it had worked. When she’d only had fear left, there had been no holding back. She’d felt as if something unlocked within her.
Power.
She realized that he hadn’t spoken.
Her gaze darted to him. “Duncan?”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
Uh, oh. All of the moisture seemed to dry up in her mouth.
“I wanted to take you.” He backed up another step. “Consider yourself warned.”
Crap.
He turned away from her. “At least you know how to stop me now.”
He’d really been ordering her to stop him. Ordering…or begging? The words had been so rough. Had the man been fighting the beast? Trying to hang on? She reached out for him.
But he stepped farther away.
“No touching,” he growled. “When I touch you, I want.”
The blood link that she’d created? Or something more? Vampires were addictive to their prey, but she didn’t just want to be some addiction to him.
I love you.
She wanted to be something more.
“Let’s do this.” He headed toward the mouth of the alley.
“Wait!”
He stiffened but didn’t glance back. She forced herself away from the bricks. “Let me take off your collar.” Pate had wanted him to keep wearing it. Because Pate didn’t trust Duncan’s animal instincts.
“That’s not a good idea,” Duncan said.
“You’re not going to attack any human, you’re not—”
“I almost attacked you right then. And with the full moon coming…” She saw his hands clench. “It’s a risk I can’t take.”
Because of his family. She knew what had happened to them. The slaughter by werewolves that had left a five-year-old boy covered in blood and orphaned in the world.
He’d learned monsters were real at such an early age. Too early.
She hadn’t learned that lesson until she’d stepped into Pate’s world.
“I keep the collar.” It rode low on his neck. “And you keep the remote.” His head turned and his gaze met hers once more. “And if I ever go for your throat or your heart and you can’t pull me back with a vampire compulsion, you don’t f**king hesitate to burn me.”
She could only stare at him in shock.
“Promise me,” he demanded.
She nodded, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Because she didn’t want to lie to him.
Then they were heading toward the bar. Toward the laughter and the noise on the wrong side of the city. A battle waited for them, and this time, she would fight.
And not be the same victim that she’d been a year ago.
Because just a few blocks away, well, Holly had died in a spot there. In a pool of blood. With a vampire standing over her and with her brother screaming her name.
***
The bar reeked of blood and death. Humans were inside, dancing, seemingly oblivious to the smell.
But Duncan wasn’t human, not anymore. His nostrils widened as he pulled in the heavy scent that came primarily from the door on the far left. The door marked Private.
The door was guarded by two men he pegged instantly as werewolves.
“What’s happening in that room?” Holly whispered from beside him as her fingers curled around his arm.
He tried not to stiffen at her touch. He was too aware of her. Of every single thing that she did. Vampires were addictive, that was the spiel, right? Maybe that was why he had a constant hard-on and all he could think about was plunging into her again.