The man vanished, and a giant black wolf attacked in mid-air. Morgan touched her shoulder and felt the wet warmth of her blood. The skin ached, but she knew the flesh was already healing.
Vamp healing power.
The two wolves were a twisting, snarling mass. Claws flew, razor-sharp teeth snapped. Blood matted their fur, and their growls fil ed the air.
She lunged forward, but a hard hand wrapped around her arm.
“Easy, there, cher. ” The man’s voice rol ed with a Cajun accent she’d once heard during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. “Don’t go gettin’ between wolves. If Mike wants a chal enge, then Jace wil give him one…”
As she watched, the other wolves circled and howled. Jace tore into the white wolf.
More blood. Her nose twitched at the smel .
Didn’t they know better than to fil a room with blood when a vampire was around?
Her teeth began to burn as they stretched in her mouth. What would it be like? To have that fresh, wolf blood? Would it truly be as powerful as the Council said?
Jace went for the white wolf’s throat. His powerful jaws caught the flesh, caught, held…
Mike sagged beneath him, the fight gone. Surrender.
Submission.
Jace tossed his head back. His howl fil ed the bar.
Then the black wolf turned and stared at her. His teeth were bloody. His eyes wild.
What have I done?
The Council was wrong. There was no way she’d ever be able to control him. The wolves were running around now, some human, some animal, and it was chaos. Jace transformed as he approached. Fur melted. Bones shifted. By the time he reached for her, he was a man.
Even if his stare was stil the wild gaze of the wolf. He came to her, caught her hand, and said, “Mine.”
She knew that it was too late to run.
***
Mike raced away from the bar even as Jace’s howl fil ed his ears. Bastard. He’d hated that ass**le for years and now Jace was pairing up with a vampire?
Another reason to hate the SOB.
Mike had shifted, transforming in order to heal. Jace had sliced him too deep. Even now, the blood spil ed down his neck.
“So sweet…”
The whisper had Mike slowing. His gaze swept the dark shadows. A row of broken buildings waited on the left. Empty. Faded.
His nostrils flared, and he scented… bloodsucker.
Mike slapped a hand over his throat, and he began to back away. Normal y he wouldn’t run from a vamp, but…but he’d already gotten his ass handed to him once tonight. “Stay away from me!” He shouted.
Laughter floated in the air.
“No…” The voice was closer now. “I saw you…I watched it al .”
Mike spun around and came face-to-face with the vamp. Tal , as pale as the woman had been, but muscled.
And the vamp’s fangs were out.
“You were going to kil the female, weren’t you?”
Talk about being screwed. He should have known the bitch hadn’t come in alone.
“No.” He could be honest here. Maybe it would help his cause. “I was going to kil him. ”
More laughter, and then the vampire closed in. Mike didn’t even have a chance to scream.
***
“This is…ah…your place?” Morgan paced in front of the fireplace. “It’s not quite what I was expecting.” Jace pul ed his gaze off her ass. The rush from the shift stil fueled his body. No, not just from the shift. From her.
He had her taste now. Knew the feel of her body. Knew the sound of pleasure on her lips. He wanted more.
“What did you expect?” His voice was rough. Always was. Like sandpaper when hers sounded like silk.
Morgan stopped her pacing. She slanted him a quick glance from beneath lowered lashes.
“A cage?” He tossed out.
Her smal jaw tensed. “And I suppose you never once wondered if I slept in a coffin?”
He laughed. “No, princess, I know better.” She just needed to stay out of sunlight because the light made her weak, almost human. Not because it set her skin on fire.
That was just a Hol ywood myth.
“And I know better, too.” Her voice came even softer than before. She turned to stare at the heavy bookshelves that lined his wal s. “But I did expect pin-up queens and at least one big screen TV.”
Yeah, wel , they were al on the other side of the house. Jace shrugged. Then he took off his t-shirt.
Her gazed immediately dipped to his chest. Her hand lifted and rubbed the curve of her shoulder, the tasty spot he’d sampled less than an hour before. He’d be sampling a whole lot more of her soon.
The f**king princess. He’d asked for her because, hel , yeah, he knew the power that she wielded in her blood. If he got enough of that vampire blood in him, he’d be near invincible.
He wanted that power. Would need it if he was going to stop the demons. But there was…
more.
He’d wanted her. Had, for a very, very long time. The lady didn’t even know how long he’d been watching her.
“I remember the first time I saw you.” He hadn’t meant to say the words, but they broke from him. How many nights had his vampire princess haunted his dreams?
Her eyes widened. “Wh-what?” There it was again. That smal stutter. The hesitation he hadn’t expected from her. He’d thought that the years would have made her harder. Perhaps they hadn’t.
Or perhaps she was just playing him. Time would tel .
“You stopped aging ten years ago.”
A slight inclination of her head. Freshmeat, or at least, that’s what the pack would have cal ed her.
Jace just thought of her as—
Mine.
“We’ve never met.” Now her voice wasn’t so hesitant, but her fingers were stil curled over the mark he’d put on her flesh.
“No, but I’ve watched you.” Before he’d taken over the pack, his job had been to monitor the vampires. To catalog their every move and report back to his alpha. He’d watched and seen a blond beauty gaze up at the sun with tears in her eyes. Her twenty-fifth birthday. The day she’d final y changed.
Lathan, the ex-alpha, had wanted the pureblood taken out. She was supposed to have been a message to the vamps. We’re taking over this town. Time for you to be our bitches. But Jace had seen her stare at that sun, and instead of hurting her, he’d torn his alpha apart.
Wolves couldn’t real y recognize their mates on sight. At least, they weren’t supposed to recognize them.
Mine.
“Jace?” He liked the way she said his name, though he would prefer hearing her scream it in pleasure to whispering it so quietly. Later. “You didn’t answer my question,”