Logan’s eyes slid down her body. By the time they’d started the journey back to her face, a silvery light was glowing inside those icy depths. “What are you doing?”
“Proving to you how healthy I am so you’ll relax.”
“You’re not healthy. I took so much blood.”
She wasn’t going to let him go down the guilt road. She had other plans. “Do you have any idea how good it feels when you do that?”
His eyes closed tight as if blocking out the sight of her.
Fine. She knew how to combat that move. She lifted up the hem of his shirt and slid her hands inside, stroking his bare chest. She leaned down close to his ear and whispered, “It’s like being dipped in sunshine, only better. Has anyone ever done that to you? Have you ever had a woman bite you?”
His body clenched, but she was set in her path. She was tired of Logan trying to hand her off to someone else. She didn’t want someone else. She wanted him.
He didn’t respond, but that was okay. She could tell that regardless of whether he’d allowed someone to take his blood, the idea did not repulse him. In fact, if the thick bulge of his erection was any proof, he liked the idea.
Hope shifted, sliding herself so she stroked him as she inched up his body. She kissed his jaw, his earlobe, just beneath. And then she kissed his neck, parting her lips and sucking his skin against her teeth.
Logan’s arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. A low rumble of warning vibrated in his chest, but she couldn’t tell if he was warning her to stop or warning her not to.
The idea of pushing him far enough to find out the answer was too alluring to resist.
Hope nipped his hot skin. Logan let out a sound of torment that gave her pause.
“You mustn’t.” His voice was rough as if he’d spent a week screaming.
“Why? I only want to make you feel the way you make me feel.”
“It’s wrong.”
“I used to think so, but not anymore. The longer I’m with you, the more my preconceived notions fly out the window. The idea of tasting your blood doesn’t even bother me. Not anymore.”
“It’s not safe.”
She scraped her teeth along his neck. “Why?”
“You belong to another.”
That pissed her off. “I belong to myself. If I choose to give myself to someone else, that’s my business. You don’t get to decide who that person is. Or isn’t.”
“I can’t want you, Hope.”
She ground her crotch against his erection, eliciting a groan from both of them. “Clearly you can. And do.”
“It’s forbidden.”
“Sex or me biting you?”
“Both.”
“Why?”
“You don’t want me to tell you the truth. It only makes you angry.”
“What makes me angry is that you actually think the truth is I belong to someone else. I don’t.”
“You will. You’ll give yourself to another man and be glad we resisted.”
“Now you can see the future?”
“No, history. I’ve seen this course of events before. You’ll meet Eric. You’ll fall in love with him. His rough edges will fade away and the two of you will be happy together.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I’ve seen it happen over and over. I cannot take that happiness away from you. Not for one night of pleasure.”
“Assuming I believe you, which I don’t, why can’t I have both?”
“Our world is not like the humans’ world. There are laws. Traditions.”
“No one has to know but us.”
“I’ll know. I’ve worked for centuries to see the continuation of my race. I would give my life for you, but I can’t offer theirs. I can’t risk the life of a child we might conceive.”
“I’m protected. I won’t get pregnant.”
“If you take my blood you might. I wouldn’t have the control to fight you. I’d take you. I’d spill my seed inside you. You could conceive.”
“I’m on the pill. We can go buy condoms.”
“I cannot risk it. And any child we would have would be doomed to a life of humiliation and starvation. I will not allow it.”
The thought of making a child suffer doused her lust. She scrambled away, pulling the blanket tightly around herself.
“That doesn’t make any sense. You don’t know any of that. You’re just trying to frighten me.”
Logan pulled his shirt down and sat up. He looked weary. Defeated. “I wish I were. I wish we could have our liaison and no one would come to harm, but that’s not the way our world works. That dream we shared was all we’ll ever have.”
“You were there? In my dreams?”
He nodded. “Though I wish I hadn’t been. It was wrong.”
“I’m glad you were there,” said Hope. “If that’s all we can ever have, then it’ll have to be better than nothing.”
“I’m sorry. We must finish our bargain and go our separate ways.”
Wanting Logan was hard, but loving him and knowing there would never be anything between them was torture. She needed to have him out of her life before she was so deeply in love with him she’d never find a way out.
She lowered her voice, unable to put any enthusiasm in the words. “The sooner, the better.”
Hacksaw found the address of Hope’s photography studio. The master’s presence inside his mind propelled him forward, burning inside him as a punishment for his failure.
He’d lost the master’s woman. The bloodsucker who guarded her still lived.
But the night was young and the master’s hold on Hacksaw was strong. His guidance would lead him to victory, so Hacksaw didn’t even try to fight it. Not that it would do any good if he had.
A bell tinkled as he walked into the posh studio. Ornately framed portraits lined the walls. Beyond a doorway curtained in heavy, fringed fabric, he heard the sound of a woman singing.
Hacksaw parted the curtain with a dirty hand and slipped silently inside.
The woman wasn’t Hope. Disappointment filled him for a moment as he watched her. She was wearing headphones, singing along with a tune that made her bounce in time with the music. She was pretty. Clean. He’d seen women like this come into the master’s domain and fall at his feet.
None of them were clean when they died, but the master didn’t seem to mind. So long as they were obedient.
The woman hadn’t noticed his presence. She was busy doing something with her hands—something that involved a razor blade.
Bring her to me.
The master’s voice echoed in Hacksaw’s head, blocking out all other thoughts. He didn’t know what he’d want with her, but it didn’t matter. What the master wanted, he got.
Hacksaw slipped around behind her. She didn’t see him coming. He clamped a dirty hand over her nose and mouth, blocking off her air.
She yelped in shock and kicked back at him while her fingers pried at his. But Hacksaw was strong. He didn’t let go. Not even when she slashed at him with that razor blade, drawing blood—both his and hers.
Dark red and bright red drops splattered out across the picture of a chubby toddler.
His blood was so much darker than hers. He didn’t know why that was.
The master’s presence in his mind reassured him there was nothing to worry about. All was as it was supposed to be.
Hacksaw took comfort in that as he suffocated the small woman.
Her struggle slowed and finally stopped as she lost consciousness. Hacksaw didn’t know how long he’d have before she woke, but his car was parked right outside and his trunk was ready for her body.
The master was going to be so pleased.
Logan smelled blood. Familiar blood.
He bolted from Hope’s room and sprinted down the stairs to the studio below. She was right on his heels.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, her voice raised an octave in fear.
“Get dressed. Fast.”
He didn’t wait to see if she complied. He stepped into the hallway and pulled in a deep breath through his nose, smelling human blood. Tainted blood. The blood of the man who’d tried to steal Hope.
Beneath that scent was a cleaner one. The blood of a human with no taint. She was blooded, but not heavily. The sour stench of her fear still lingered in the air.
Logan followed his nose to the studio’s workshop. Hope was only seconds behind him.
On a large, sturdy workbench was a child’s portrait spattered with blood—both light and dark.
“Jodi,” said Hope, the name filled with devastation. “Where’s Jodi?”
Logan followed the drops of blood out the front door and onto the sidewalk. Several congregated in a cluster at the end of an empty parking slot. He’d put her in the trunk. Just like he had done to Hope.
Her hand clenched his arm. She was weaving on her feet, and despite the emergency that faced them, Hope was his primary concern.
The Dorjan knew where she lived. He’d taken her roommate as leverage. Logan had to get Hope out of here. Now.
He reached around her waist and steadied her. “I’m going to find her.”
“She’s gone. Jodi’s gone. It’s my fault, isn’t it?”
“No. You are not responsible for the choices of others.”
Logan retrieved his cell phone and dialed Nicholas. “I need your assistance.”
“Where?” asked Nicholas.
It wasn’t safe to stay here, but he had no vehicle. It had been ruined by the Warden. “The coffee shop down the street from Hope’s studio. As soon as you can.”
“I’m nearby. It won’t be long.”
“And can you request a team of Gerai to tow my van? We ran into some difficulties and I don’t want my license plate drawing any unwanted police attention.” It was something he should have thought to do before, but he’d been too swept up in Hope and the shared pleasure of her dream.
“No problem,” said Nicholas. “The tracker in it will give them the location.”
“Thank you.”
Logan hung up and swept Hope back inside. He kept a hold on her, making sure she didn’t topple over. She was swaying on her feet, moving along wherever he led without question.
She was in shock. A lot had happened tonight, and she was likely weak from the remnants of her injuries as well as feeding him. It was no wonder that she needed some time to process the situation.
He found a coat in her closet and eased it over her arms. A knit scarf went around her neck and he pulled her hood up to ward off the cold.
Her eyes were wide and shining with tears. Her mouth was tight with worry. “Is he going to hurt her?”
“No,” he lied.
Logan’s heart ached for her and for her friend, who was no doubt terrified. If she was still alive.
He had to believe she was. Not much blood had been spilled, and what good was Jodi if she couldn’t be used as a lever to pry Hope out into the open? She’d be of no use to them dead.
He kept his tone gentle as he pulled her to her feet. “We’re going to go meet Nicholas now. We’ll figure out where Jodi went and we’ll find her.”