“So you’re wil ingly offering yourself to me?” The wolf asked, voice darker than before. The weight of his hand felt too heavy against her throat. Wolves were always so big, too big. In a second’s time, their claws could emerge, and they could rip apart their enemies. And when they went into a ful shift…
We need their strength. “Once you help us to defeat the demons, I’l marry you.”
The wolves and vampires would be irrevocably bound.
Any supernatural that wanted a piece of them would find an al iance that was unbreakable. Unbeatable.
Jace laughed. The sound was sinister and strangely sexy. This time, Morgan couldn’t stop her shiver, and she knew he felt it.
“Doesn’t work that way.” His head leaned toward her and his lips hovered over hers.
“You want the demons taken out, then you give me what I want first.”
What he wanted…
“Marry me, bond with me, and you’l have your own personal guard who’l tear apart anyone who comes near you.”
She licked her lips. “It’s…ah, not just about me.” She wasn’t doing this to save her own skin. “It’s about al the vampires in my nest. They al need protection. Your pack has to give to al —”
“You are my concern.” He shrugged. “But if they matter to you, then they can have pack protection. We’l take out the demons and leave a bloody trail to warn al others never to f**k with us again.”
Yes, he was good at that kind of trail.
Over the years, the vampires had become, wel , some said too civilized. They’d taken to drinking blood from handy little plastic bags. They married humans. They blended almost perfectly with society.
Because so many of them wanted to be human.
Morgan had wanted that, too. Then she saw how easily the humans died. Now she wanted to be strong. A fighter.
The vampires were fal ing too quickly to the demon horde. The wolves—they were lasting longer. Because they’re stronger now. If they were going to stop hel , then the vampires needed the wolves at their sides.
“Marry me…” Jace’s whisper.
She knew she’d do anything, but before she could speak, a hard thud shook the wal . Morgan jerked. “What is—”
He wrapped his hands around her shoulders and lifted her up so that she had to stare straight into her eyes. “Demons fol owed you here tonight.”
“No, that’s not possible, I was careful, I—”
“Now my pack is tearing them apart.”
If only. But, sadly, she’d discovered that it wasn’t simple to kil a demon. You had to sever its head, and cleaving through demon flesh wasn’t an easy task. While a demon’s flesh looked like a human’s, it was harder to penetrate than any armor she’d ever seen.
“Do I have your agreement? You wil marry me right away?”
Why did she like the rumble of his voice so much? Morgan nodded. Another thud shook the wal , and she was pretty sure she heard a scream. Or two.
“Good.” A growl. Then the wolf did something she hadn’t expected. His mouth took hers. Her lips had parted in surprise, and his tongue thrust inside her mouth. He didn’t taste like a vampire or a like a human. She had experience with those types of men.
But Jace…
He tasted wild. Hot.
Her arms curled around his neck as she pul ed him closer.
A growl worked in his throat when she sucked his tongue. Oh, yes, she liked that.
Vampires had the wrong image. Cold, stiff. Unfeeling. She’d never been like that. She’d always wanted. Needed.
Maybe he can give me what I want.
Her ni**les were hard, stabbing against his chest, and her sex began to moisten.
Wolves weren’t easy lovers, or so the stories said. No quick tumble in the darkness for them. Instead, sex that lasted for hours.
Hours.
The Council elder’s face had been sad when he’d said, “We hate for you to make this sacrifice…”
It didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice to her.
Just felt like white-hot lust.
Her fangs started to lengthen. What will his blood taste like?
She couldn’t wait to find out.
His hands were on her ass now, holding her up and against the hard bulge of his arousal. No missing that fierce length of flesh. The wolf was big al over. Yes.
Very slowly, and only after he tasted her once more, Jace lifted his head and lowered her to the ground. “Didn’t expect that.”
She could stil taste him.
“Guess vampires can feel more than hate for the wolves.”
Morgan pul ed in a deep breath. “And I guess wolves can lust for the bloodsuckers they claim to despise.”
He stared down at her, and she realized she didn’t hear any muffled voices from the bar any longer. No more thuds. No screams.
His hand took hers and his palm felt red-hot against the mark on her flesh. Wolves were so hot, when she’d known only the cold for so long.
“Come.”
Do it. Go. Don’t back down now. Just because she’d tasted the wolf and realized that control ing him might not be as easy as she’d planned, wel , that didn’t mean she could run away.
He opened the door. The smel of blood hit her. But it wasn’t the normal y sweet, tempting scent that cal ed to her kind.
Rancid. Brimstone. Hel .
Demons.
Their bodies lay on the floor. Their heads had been severed, and their eyes—as red as the hel they’d escaped—stared straight up at her. Two demons down…
“How?” She breathed the word in surprise. The vamps had taken hours to kil demons, while the wolves had decapitated these two in mere minutes.
The wolf shifter that Jace had cal ed Mike lifted his hand. His claws glinted. “We can slice through anything.” His gaze seemed to bore into her. “Anything. ” The unmistakable threat was in his eyes.
That wolf would be a problem.
She might just have to kil him soon.
Jace caught her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.
But the kil ing would have to wait. Because, ah, first, she’d have to marry her alpha wolf.
Chapter Two
Morgan liked to bite. In fact, she was very good with her teeth. But being bitten wasn’t so much her thing.
She stood in the middle of Howling Moon, congealing demon blood getting way too close to her boots, and knew that she’d have to offer her neck.
The wolves surrounded her. Jace held her hand in a deceptively light grip.
“This is Morgan LaBeaux.” Jace’s voice boomed out and every wolf there stil ed.