“I thought we went over this…” he muttered, his hand tightening even more around her wrist. “If you want to drink, then you will damn well drink from me.”
Her fangs burned. She realized that she wanted, quite badly, to bury her teeth into his flesh.
“Come on, Terese.” He yanked her against him. “You want to bite someone? Bite me.”
And she did. Her fangs sank into his throat and his sweet blood flowed onto her tongue. His hands curled around her ass and pulled her against the thick length of his arousal.
He groaned when she licked his neck.
By now, she knew all of his weak spots. Just as he knew hers. Each day just made her want him more.
Not just want him, need him.
She lifted her head. “I wasn’t going to bite him.”
He smiled down at her. “Finally mastered it, huh?”
And she knew that Apollo had been aware of her games.
She nodded.
“He wanted to f**k you.” Now her god sounded disgruntled.
Terese arched a brow. “Wasn’t going to happen.” His blood filled her with power and a humming energy. “I don’t want to—”
“Damn, Apollo, are you taking your dates to alleys these days? Cheap ass**le.” A man’s thundering voice cut across her words.
Apollo swore and turned slowly to face the guy who stood near the entrance of the alley.
Terese followed his gaze. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of a dark haired man with a wicked grin.
“Ares.” There wasn’t a whole lot of warmth in Apollo’s voice. All right, there wasn’t any warmth in his voice. “I thought you’d be out of town for another week.”
“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll be leaving soon.” His dark stare drifted over Terese and he whistled in appreciation. “I just thought I smelled a surge of power and figured I’d better pop in, you know, in case you were about to kick some ass.” His lips twisted. “But apparently, you aren’t kicking ass, you’re just getting some a—”
“Ares…” A definite warning edge was in Apollo’s voice.
The dark man just laughed.
Terese stared at the stranger as curiosity burned within her. Ares. She knew that name. “You’re the god of war, aren’t you?”
He gave a little bow.
“Oh, great! Him you know!” Apollo wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they faced his brother.
“And who might you be, my lovely?” Ares asked.
“Terese Lafitte.”
“It’s a pleasure to—”
“Cut the shit and stop hitting on her,” Apollo warned.
Ares frowned. “I wasn’t hitting on your…” He inhaled, and his eyes narrowed “…little vampire.”
She felt Apollo stiffen beside her. “How the hell did you—” he began.
“Her scent.” A small shrug. “I’ve met her kind before.” His eyes narrowed. “Even killed a few in my time.”
Apollo stepped forward and placed his body squarely in front of Terese’s. “Don’t even think about it.”
Another low rumble of laughter. “Relax, Pol. I’m not going to hurt your…friend.”
“Damn right you’re not.”
Hmmm…she wasn’t feeling a whole lot of love for the war god. Peeking over Apollo’s shoulder, Terese glared at Ares.
“But there’s someone else nearby…” His head cocked to the side. “Someone who wants to hurt her, very badly. I can feel his rage lapping at me.”
Eric.
“Where is he?” Apollo demanded.
“Close. Very close.” A gleam of what appeared to be anticipation lit the war god’s eyes. “Want me to track him?”
“No.” Cold. Deadly. “The bastard’s mine.”
“Huh. So you’re not all sunshine and smiles, eh, Pol?”
He didn’t answer.
“Good. I always knew there was a reason I let you keep living.”
Apollo snorted.
The air around Ares began to shimmer. “If you change your mind, well, you know how to find me.”
“I can handle this guy on my own.”
“Yeah, killing vamps should be child’s play for you, sunny boy.” With a wink, Ares disappeared.
Terese blinked, then glanced around the dark alley. She didn’t feel quite so powerful anymore. Actually, she felt scared. There’s someone else nearby… “I-is he out here?” Was Eric watching her? Watching them?
“No, if he were here, Ares would have told me.” Apollo’s gaze scanned the darkness.
Dammit, why couldn’t it be over? Why couldn’t Eric just leave her alone?
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” The back of Apollo’s hand caressed her cheek.
“What—what do you mean?” She didn’t like the idea of Apollo going up against Eric. The guy was an elder, who knew what he could do? “I think we should just stay away from him.” Far away.
He snorted. “Yeah, that’s a plan.” He linked his hand with hers and pulled her close to him. “I need to get you some place safe, then I’ll hunt him and—”
“No!” She stared at him in disbelief. Surely he didn’t think she was just going to sit all comfy and cozy somewhere while he went out and faced Eric. “I’m not going to let you hunt him alone.”
But he just laughed. “Trust me, I can take him out.” Such total confidence.
Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. What had Ares said? Killing vamps should be child’s play for you, sunny boy. She swallowed, a really, really bad feeling rising in her stomach. “What did Ares mean, about you killing vampires?”
His eyelids lowered in a barely perceptible flinch. If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she wouldn’t have seen the telling movement. “Apollo?”
His lips thinned. “I’ll tell you, but, first, I want to get you out of this alley.” His arms looped behind her, and he pulled her flush against him. “I want to jump back home.”
Jump. “You mean…space jump?” That was what he’d called it before.
A quick nod. “It’s the safest way. We’ll disappear and if that bastard’s watching, he won’t know where the hell we went.”
Her fingers dug into his waist. “How does this work exactly?” Jumping through space, that seemed dangerous. “I mean, is it like on Star Trek when the crew members look like they’re disintegrating?”