Then she looked down—at him.
There were no tears this time.
Jace turned away.
But the blood didn’t stop. He’d gone back for the alpha. “You can’t take me, boy, you don’t even know how strong I—”
The alpha’s blood had stained Jace’s claws.
Morgan tried to shut out the memories. It was too much. She didn’t want to see anymore. No more death. It was al he knew.
Yet he hadn’t kil ed her .
As the images kept pushing forward, she realized that Jace had visited her again.
And again. She hadn’t known it, but he’d been there so many times. Not to kil .
To guard.
***
Jace watched her while she slept and wondered what memories she saw. He knew how the bite worked. Another reason the vamps had stopped drinking directly from humans was because they couldn’t stand the memory overload. When you drank from a live source, you saw memories.
What did the vampiress see?
He bent over the bed and wiped away the bloody tears that trekked from her eyes.
He’d always hated her tears.
You see me now, don’t you? The dead had piled at his feet over the years. If he had one talent in this world, it was kil ing.
It would be a talent that aided them when the battle with the demons came. But
…what would Morgan think of him when she woke?
“I’m not a f**king monster.” Liar, liar…and who’d know better than her? In his head now, always, there’d be no hiding from her.
She’d know it al and understand the obsession he carried. For her. He eased away from the bed. He didn’t want to look into her eyes with the memories between them.
Not yet.
Jace spun away and left the room.
He hurried down the hal and shoved open the front door. The afternoon sunlight hit him, bright and hot, the way it always was in Miami. The buzz of insects bled from the nearby swamp, droning on and on. When he jumped down the steps, his first in command, Louis, pushed away from his truck.
Jace had heard the other wolf drive up. He’d just taken his time about heading out.
“We got trouble,” Louis said, his Cajun accent rol ing easily on the words. “No one seen any sign of Mike. Nothin’ except his blood in an al ey.”
Jace’s brows snapped up. “Look, that ass**le is just sleeping it off someplace, he’
s—”
“That al ey reeked of vamp, alpha.” Louis shook his head. “Not your pretty little vamp. Didn’t smel like sex and blood and flowers…”
Jace’s teeth snapped together. But, f**k, yeah, that was how she smel ed.
“More like hate, death, and…brimstone.”
Brimstone? “You saying demons were there, too?”
Louis’s shoulders rol ed. “I’m sayin’ we got us a missin’ wolf. And blood and vamps where they damn sure don’t need to be.”
In wolf territory.
He glanced back at the house.
Gravel crunched beneath Louis’s feet. “You gave that cher your blood?”
“I had to.” It was part of the deal. The vamps wanted a power boost by taking wolf blood. “I gave her mine, and I took hers.” Jace glanced down at his hands. With barely a thought, he had his claws springing out. “It worked just like we thought. Her blood in me…”
The rush was stil un-freaking-believable. “I can already feel the power.”
“You gonna get more?”
“I’l get as much as I can take.” His gaze held the other wolf’s. Louis nodded. “Wil it be enough?”
“It has to—”
The world exploded. The blast tossed Jace into the air, and he slammed into the front of Louis’s pickup.
It took him three seconds to realize it wasn’t the world that had actual y erupted. No, that giant bal of flames had come from his house.
Morgan.
The fire ripped up at the sky, twisting and turning.
Blood dripped down the side of Louis’s face. “What the hel is—”
Jace ran for the house.
“Jace! No!” Louis’s footsteps pounded after him.
He ran faster. Morgan was in the house. A vampire’s skin couldn’t stand the fire.
She’d die—
He grabbed the door handle and shoved. The door col apsed beneath his hand.
“Morgan!”
He bel owed her name and rushed inside.
And he tripped over her. Morgan was on the floor, her arm stretched toward the door. Stretched f**king toward him.
He grabbed her and hoisted her into his arms. The flames crackled and flared around him, licking out at his skin. He ignored the burn. Morgan’s head sagged against him, and her eyes didn’t open.
Jace held her tight and leapt back through that broken doorway. Smoke bil owed out behind him.
She barely seemed to breathe. Ash and soot covered her, and Jace could see the angry red blisters that lined her perfect skin.
Hurt. On his watch.
Not ever again.
Windows shattered behind him, and Jace hunched his shoulders, curling his body in to protect her. Glass flew into the air, and shards sank into his flesh. Rage grew within him with each step that he took away from the inferno. Jace didn’t ease his hold on Morgan, not until he’d settled behind Louis’s truck. Then he careful y lowered her onto the ground. Her eyes stil didn’t open.
“Oh, hel …” Louis’s drawl. “She’s not…” The shifter’s voice cracked. “The cher ain’t alive, is she now?”
Jace put his hand over her heart and didn’t feel it beat.
Chapter Four
Blood flowed into her mouth, hot and rich, and she drank greedily. The blood brought memories. His memories. Not of death and hel this time, but of a wild run through the woods. The thril of the chase.
I’m hunting.
Morgan’s eyes cracked open. She wondered why she hurt. Every part of her body burned and ached and—
Oh, yes, she burned because she’d been on fire.
Jace pul ed his wrist away from her mouth. “Don’t ever do that to me again, got it?”
She was on the ground. No, not on the ground, but sitting on Jace’s lap. His blood was already sliding through her veins, healing her even in sunlight. She wasn’t naked anymore. Because she’d had to run through that fire naked. She’d woken in his room only because the fire licked at her skin. She’d leapt through the flames even as she screamed his name.
Now she wore his shirt. It smel ed of smoke and him. And her teeth were stil sharp, and she was pissed.