Fuck.

“Don’t thank me,” he growled. Don’t thank me because you don’t know what I’m going to do yet. You don’t know what I want.

Soon enough, she would.

***

It was the same nightmare she always had. Allison knew it was a nightmare, but she still couldn’t wake up. Her parents were dead around her, their blood staining the white carpet a dark red. Her neck hurt, and she could feel the wetness sliding down her skin.

Her blood.

“We’ll be seeing you again…” The vampire told her, smiling with a flash of his blood-stained teeth. “Grow up for us, get strong…we’ll be seeing you again.”

Because she was one of them. Just like them. She’d kill, torture, listen to her prey scream—

“Wake up, Allison.” Hands were wrapped around her arms, shaking her not-so-gently. “Dammit, wake up!”

Her eyes flew open, and she found Cade crouched over her. She almost screamed again.

Just in time, she managed to stop herself. “I—is something wrong?” Her heart thudded in her chest and her voice came out far too husky.

She was in the bed. His bed. He’d taken the couch and offered his room to her.

A nice gesture for a killer.

“You were screaming.”

And now she was awake, in bed, mostly naked, with a bare-chested werewolf crouching over her. “Bad dream,” she managed.

Cade grunted. Was that supposed to be a sympathy sound? He stared to pull away.

She grabbed his hand.

They both froze then. Suddenly, the air seemed very, very thick. And he seemed even…bigger than before.

“You want to let me go,” he said the words softly, but she heard the order in them.

She didn’t let him go. “You’re not the hard-ass you want me to believe you are.” Hard-ass killers didn’t comfort you when you had a nightmare. Hard-ass killers didn’t give you their beds. They didn’t—

One second. That was all it took. He had her flat on her back as his body crushed hers into the mattress. His lips were on hers, not soft and gentle—wild, hard, rough.

He didn’t kiss like a new lover. He kissed like a man taking what he wanted.

Me.

She couldn’t pull away. His hold was too strong. But—

But she didn’t want to pull away. Allison let her lips part even more, and she kissed him back, loving the hot surge that heated her veins. She’d been alone and afraid for so long and now—I want him.

His mouth jerked away from hers. “What the hell are you doing?”

She licked her lips. Tasted him. Wild. “Kissing you?” Sure, she might not be the most experienced chick in the world but she did have some skills.

“Why?”

Uh, shouldn’t that be—

“Do you like to play with fire? I want you…” His voice had roughened, deepened so that it sounded like the rumble from a beast, “and werewolves aren’t exactly known for their control.”

Her hand rose and traced one of the twisting scars that crossed his chest.

Cade’s muscles stiffened at her touch. “You don’t want to—” His words broke off as his head jerked to the right. She saw the slight flaring of his nostrils as he scented the air.

“Cade?”

He didn’t look at her. Just stared toward the dark window. “Company.”

Cade leapt out of the bed and raced for the door. Allison grabbed for her clothes and yanked them on as she stumbled after him.

Then she heard the growl of motors approaching. At least two. Oh, crap, this wasn’t good.

She grabbed Cade’s arm. “Wait!”

He spun to face her.

“You don’t know what’s out there—”

“Two trucks. Seven dumbass humans. I can smell ‘em.” He inhaled and offered a grim smile. “And those humans are about to get an ass beating.”

Okay, so he did know.

Cade stalked outside. He was still bare-chested, and the guy didn’t even look for a weapon to take with him. She didn’t know much about werewolves, but no way were they indestructible.

Allison rushed after him, yanking down her shirt. The trucks had just braked to a halt, and dirt danced in the air around them.

Cade stopped on the small porch, braced his legs apart and kept his arms loose at his sides. “Griggs!” He called out. “You dumb bastard, you don’t want to get in this battle.”

Griggs? The guy from Blood Bath? Like she’d be forgetting him anytime soon.

The truck door opened, and sure enough, Griggs poked his shaved head out. “For enough money, I’d gut my own mother.”

Lovely.

The men climbed out of the trucks. Cade had been right about their “company” after all.

“The money’s real good,” Griggs continued as he began to edge toward them. Oh, damn, was that a wooden stake in his hand? “Too good to pass up. Not my fault if you went all pussy weak.”

A quick glance showed her that Cade’s claws were coming out.

“What?” Griggs demanded. “Did you decide to spend some time screwing the target? I mean, she’s hot, but not worth the—”

Cade lunged forward, and when he moved, in that instant, Allison saw the flash of metal. A gun. The jerkoff sidling up behind Griggs had a gun that he was aiming at Cade.

Had Cade even seen the weapon?

She screamed a warning and leapt toward Cade. Leapt—and moved faster than she’d ever moved in her life. Faster than a human could ever move. Her body slammed into his, and she knocked Cade out of the way even as she felt a fierce burn lance her skin.

She hit the ground, stunned, and realized that her side was still burning. Allison glanced down and in the growing dawn light, she saw the blood seeping through her shirt.

“Fucking wrong move,” Cade snarled.

Her head lifted, and she saw him charge for the gunman. One twist, and he’d broken the man’s wrist. Cade grabbed the gun, and fired two quick shots at the two men coming from the second truck. They fell, screaming.

I know the feeling, assholes. Allison pushed her hand against the wound as she tried to stop the flow of blood.

Griggs just kept standing there with the stake clutched in his fist.

“You’re a fool,” Cade snarled the words at Griggs. He tossed the shooter against a tree. The guy moaned and fell to the ground. “You come out here, and you think a bullet’s gonna stop me?”

Griggs backed up a few steps.

Cade stalked after him. “Because you know about the supernaturals, you think that makes you some kind of bad ass slaying machine?”

Allison managed to get to her feet. She only swayed a little, and the blood was slowing, wasn’t it?

She blinked, and Cade had Griggs pinned against the truck. All of the men Griggs had brought with him were on the ground, moaning in pain.

Cade’s fingers, no, his claws, were at Griggs’s throat. “Come after me again,” Cade warned, “you’re dead. So much as look at Allison wrong…and you’re dead.”

Oh. Allison swallowed. He was protecting her again. If he didn’t watch it, she’d definitely start to think he had a soft spot hidden beneath those claws and fur.

“I’ll rip you open,” Cade continued, voice grim, “and cut your heart right out of your chest while you scream and beg for me to stop.”

Maybe not such a soft spot.

“Not get the fuck out of here,” he ordered. “And make sure every hunter in the area knows…stay away from what’s mine.”

Wait—hold up—did she qualify as his?

Cade stepped back from Griggs. Griggs hauled ass for his truck and his men, wounded, bleeding—their blood smelled sweet—limped after him.

The trucks roared away, fish-tailing it through the woods.

Slowly, Cade turned to face her. “Why?”

She lifted her hand and saw the blood on her fingertips. “Because you couldn’t die for me.”

He stalked toward her. “I wouldn’t have.”

Well, that seemed harsh. She’d saved his butt. Didn’t that count for anything in his mind?

His nostrils flared. “Wolves like the scent of blood.”

So did vampires.

He was almost upon her now, and she could see the sharp edge of his canines. “It usually makes us want to attack,” he said in that lethal voice of his.

Allison barely managed to swallow the lump in her throat as she looked up at him. Don’t attack. Down, wolf. Down.

He’d said his control wasn’t that good. She sure didn’t want him losing control right then.

His hands flew out and grabbed the edge of her t-shirt. He yanked the bloody fabric, ripping it. His breath hissed out. Or was that hers?

“The bullet’s still in you.”

Her knees almost buckled at that.

“It’s still in you…” His green gaze measured her, and he said, “and you’re on your feet.”

So she was. “I wanted to…help you.”

He just stared at her for a moment. His gaze searched hers. For what, she didn’t know. Then he shook his head. “Let me help you now.” And he picked her up, lifting her easily into his arms.

Maybe it was stupid, but she felt…safe…in those strong arms.

“This is gonna hurt,” he warned her as he carried her back inside the cabin. “But you can’t heal until that bullet comes out.”

Her head rested against his shoulder. It seemed natural to put her head against him. To let her body soften against the hard strength of his chest.

She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain lancing up her side. “You said…blood usually makes you want to attack.” Please, no attacks for the next, oh, hour or so. Not until she was back to better fighting form.

He slammed the door behind them and headed for the bedroom.

She wasn’t letting this one go. “Wh-what does my blood make you want to do?”

Cade lowered her onto the bed. He ripped away the rest of her shirt, leaving her clad in her black bra. His fingers slid up her side, a gentle touch that she hadn’t expected. A caress? That soft touch was almost enough to make Allison forget her question. Almost.

But having a werewolf so close to her when she was weak and bleeding…Focus. “Cade?” Allison breathed his name. What if the scent was too strong? What if his beast took control?

He looked up at her, and his green eyes were glowing with the power of the wolf.

Chill bumps rose on her arms.

“Your blood…the scent…” His jaw clenched, and he gritted, “It makes me want to kill.”

Not good.

“It makes me want to tear apart those bastards—to make damn sure that they can’t ever hurt you again.”

Her lips parted but Allison realized she didn’t know what to say.

“Now scream if you have to,” and his sharpened claws hovered over her wound, “because this is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

Chapter Four

She screamed.

The sound pierced right through him. The wolf howled inside of Cade, but his fingers were rock steady as he drove his claws into her wound.

His left hand pressed against her stomach, holding her in place on the bed, while his right hand dug into the torn flesh.

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, but after that first scream, she didn’t make a sound. He glanced at her, only for a moment, and saw that Allison was biting her bottom lip to hold back her cries.

Should have killed them.

Why the hell hadn’t he?

Because you didn’t want her to think you were a monster.

He found the bullet. Held tight to it and felt the burn on his flesh. Smoke rose from his fingertips and drifted from her body.

“C-Cade?” Her voice was soft and scared. “What’s happening?”

He pulled out the bullet. The flesh on his fingers was bright red and already blistering. He tossed the bullet onto the nightstand. “They used silver.”

Should have killed them.

Those bastards hadn’t just been after Allison. Elsa had sent the humans to take him out.

Allison’s wound began to close, right before his eyes.

“It feels…strange,” she whispered. “Tingling…”

Because the flesh was mending. She was so close to the change now, so close to becoming fully vampire, that her body had already prepared for the shift.

Vamps could heal from nearly any wound. Because they were such fast healers, they were often damn hard to kill.

There were only three ways to kill a vampire—fire, beheading, or a stake to the heart.

No wonder Elsa hadn’t come after Allison on her own. The witch literally wasn’t strong enough to kill her.

But I am. A werewolf’s claws were the perfect weapon to behead a vamp.

He realized that his fingers were caressing her stomach. Sliding lightly over the flesh. His gaze lifted, met hers.

Want her.

“You…protected me.” Who’d ever done that before? And why the hell had she done it? He’d told her that he’d been sent to kill her, and the woman had still gone ahead and take a bullet for him.

Why?

Allison stared back at him.

Fuck. He rose. Left the room.

“Cade?” Allison called after him. He liked it when she said his name. Liked it when she touched him. When her scent surrounded him. “Don’t leave,” she said, the words quiet, but he heard them perfectly.

His chest ached. “I’m not.” He went back into the room with a wet cloth held in his hands. She was sitting up now, and her breasts pushed against the cups of her bra. Damn fine breasts.