He marched to the bag she’d thrown to the floor last night. Pulled a stake out. “You’ll shove this into my heart?”
Her gaze fell to the stake.
No. Not that easy. Not anymore.
Because the vampire had gotten to her. Made her care. Made her feel.
He tossed the stake into the air, then caught it easily with his left hand. “I’ll prove that you can count on me. Trust me.”
Maybe. If only she could.
She turned away from him, unnerved by his stare.
“Dee?”
She didn’t glance back because she was too worried about what he’d see in her gaze.
“I’ll take the lust. I’ll take anything you can give me.” His fingers brushed her shoulders. He’d moved fast and soundlessly. She should have heard him, with her enhanced hearing, she should have—
“And one day, I’ll take everything.” His breath blew over her nape. “Just like you’ll take everything I have.”
Dee shivered.
His mouth closed over her skin.
She leaned back against him, strength and power, surrounding her, seducing her.
Someone rapped against their door. Her nose twitched.
Timing, timing, timing. “Catalina, chill, all right? I’ll be down in five.” No way was she leaving right then. No, she wanted a moment, okay, more than a moment, to just stay in the quiet and pretend the big, bad eternal monster wasn’t after her.
To pretend that she was just an ordinary woman wrapped in her lover’s arms.
“That’s not Catalina.”
Dee’s nostrils twitched. She smelled Catalina’s scent. The light mix of incense and roses. She turned in his arms. “Yeah, it is—”
The door flew open and the light scent vanished. A spell? A trick? What—
“Oh, hell,” she whispered.
Zane Wynter stood in the doorway, filling the frame, and his eyes glittered demon black.
Her time had run out. She knew he’d come for her. Come to keep the promise he’d given a year ago.
Zane had come to kill her.
Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t ready to die yet.
Chapter 12
“Zane, no!” Dee’s cry echoed in Simon’s ears. Fear. Fury. So the demon had tracked them? Big damn deal. He’d never been afraid of a demon, and he sure wasn’t about to start fearing one now.
Zane’s gaze scanned over them. Froze on the stake that Simon still gripped in his hands. “Were you planning to take her out, too?”
What? His brow furrowed and then the words registered. No, one word. Too. “The f**k you say.” He shoved Dee fully behind him. No way was a demon coming after his woman with death in his eyes.
“It’s what she wants.” The demon crossed the threshold. Strolled in and swung a blue bag from his shoulders. He shoved his hand inside the unzipped top and drew out a stake of his own. “What she’s always wanted.”
“You’re not touching her.” Killing the demon would be easy.
The only problem? He didn’t want to rip the man’s heart out, not in front of Dee. This demon had been her friend once.
A friend who was about to kill her.
“I won’t hide from him,” Dee said and her voice was clear. Strong. She stepped to Simon’s side, her chin up, her head back. The charred ends of her hair had vanished while she slept. Her blond mane was tousled around her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips bright red.
Sexy. The woman always looked so sexy to him.
“Dee.” The demon’s eyes swept her body once more. “You’re looking good for a dead woman.”
She shrugged.
“I take it that this ass**le is the one who changed you?” Rage slipped past the ice in Zane’s voice. Cracked through.
“No.” Her hand brushed over Simon’s arm. “He’s the one who saved my life. More than once.”
A sad shake of Zane’s head. “So you’ve already gone to his side, huh, Dee? Already forsaken—”
“I’m Born.”
The guy’s eyes bulged. “Bullshit.”
“It’s the reason my parents were killed. The reason the vamps came after me again and again. I’m Born and I’m going to take out the bastard—Grim—who is on my tail.”
Damn. The woman sure had one hell of a bite.
Sexy. If there wasn’t a demon standing there, glaring and threatening death, he’d lick that long column of her throat once more.
If.
“Sorry, Dee, that’s not gonna happen.” Zane glanced down at the floor, then back at her. “I got a promise to keep.”
Then he lunged forward, the stake up, ready, moving faster than a human ever could and flying straight at Dee.
Simon tried to jump in front of her, but Dee shoved him to the side. Then her left hand shot out and she snatched the stake, ripped it right out of the demon’s hand and snapped the wood in two.
The broken stake thudded onto the carpet.
She grabbed Zane, bunched his shirt in her fist, and jerked him close to her face.
He smiled at her. “I tried.”
What?
“You gonna bite me now? Gonna sink those, um, really long and what looks like freakishly sharp teeth in my neck? Gonna drain me dry?”
The demon didn’t seem particularly worried.
Dee rolled her eyes. “Don’t tempt me, ass**le. Don’t tempt me.”
The smile that had curled his lips faded. “You’re still in there, aren’t you, Dee? All this…” His hand lifted, traced her lips, and Simon had to bite back a growl. “It’s just surface.”
She blinked and her head cocked.
Surface.
Being a vampire was a hell of a lot more than that.
“Not a cold-blooded killer, are you?”
Dee freed him.
“If you were, you would have drained me by now.” He straightened his shirt, then raised a brow. “Born, huh? Never saw that one coming.”
She shoved a hand through her hair. “Me either.”
Zane grunted and looked his way. “So what’s your story?”
Simon just stared back at him.
“Man, you need to bring that down a notch. Dee and I weren’t lovers. You want to get all territorial and kick-ass, save that crap for Tony.”
Simon locked his jaw and gritted, “Why are you here?”
Another fleeting smile. “I’m here because if Dee really had become some soul-less bloodsucker, I would have kept my promise.” His stare slanted to a watchful Dee. “Don’t worry, sweet, I would have made it fast and as painless as possible.” A shrug. “But the minute I saw you, I knew you were still my Dee—”