He lifted incandescent eyes first, until their gazes locked, and then his tawny, tousled head.
His lips pulled away from her nipple with palpable reluctance. Uncertainty and panic coursed in her veins. But there was desire as well. And something infinitely more precious. Her heart trembled inside her rib cage with the force of it.
Tenderness. Love. Reluctant and anxious, but a love all the same.
Oh hell.
She’d gone and fallen in love with him. The ferocious need in his eyes unleashed a similar need in her, a need beyond anything sane or safe.
How had this happened? Self-preservation made one last feeble grab at sanity.
“Cole,” Alex gasped. Her voice broke on a half-plea, half-sob. “We shouldn’t…” He pushed her words aside, sliding up her body, licking and nipping, suckling his way up the side of her neck. His hands were unyielding as they grasped her hips, tugging her closer, until they fitted together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle once more. Snug. Faultless. He pushed his hips hard against her and nuzzled at her throat, his breath a ragged seduction, harsh and hot in her ear.
“Cole,” she whimpered, drawing on the last dregs of her resistance. Her will power little more than vapor now, rapidly evaporating beneath Cole’s masterful kisses and spellbinding hands.
Her only hope was bringing one of them to their senses…bringing reason to a situation that was rapidly slipping toward catastrophic. His skillful lips didn’t make it an easy task. “I refuse to be another conquest for you. I’m not some groupie 241
you can just have your fun with and walk away from.” A soft moan slipped from her as his lips fastened on the pulse at the base of her throat.
“Cole…I’m not cut out to be a one night stand.” He tore his lips away from hers, glaring down at her with eerie, glowing eyes. His voice was rough, hoarse. “Does this
feel
like a one night stand to you?”
Oh, no. This felt like much, much more. This felt like fire, explosive and all consuming.
Cole seized her lips before she could utter another sigh. This kiss was different. No less forceful, no less fierce. But it held an added layer, one of wild tenderness and reverent abandon. By the time he lifted his head, there wasn’t an ounce of resistance in her entire body, and, if his kiss hadn’t been enough to melt her heart, his words were.
“You are nothing like the others. You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met. I swear it. Now that I’ve had a taste of you, no one else will
ever
be enough for me. I need you…only you. Alex, you have my heart.”
As the words passed his lips, they branded themselves on her soul.
He
wasn’t like anyone else
she’d
ever known. He was thoughtful, vivacious and strong, poised, opinionated yet open-minded and sensible. Her confidence blossomed. She gazed up into his face, filled with wonder. He fascinated her. No one else had ever made her burn with want the way he did, no one else could make her as mindless with desire with nothing more than a kiss, a look…a smile.
On some level, that realization terrified the hell out of her. Yet she was powerless to resist, defenseless against the tenderness in his intense gaze.
He crushed her against him, kissing her with 242
wild abandon. She clung to him. At that moment in time, the house could have burned down around her ears, and she wouldn’t have cared less. As long as Cole kept kissing her as he was—
kept touching her the way he was—the entire world could have burned.
His rough hands slid to her waist, lifting her up high against him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and moaned delirious surrender. The room spun in a whirl of motion. Then Cole had her across the room and pinned beneath him on the sofa. His weight a delicious thrill as he stole a lingering, heartbreaking kiss. Her skirt was gone, as were his clothes. The only thing standing between them was the flimsy obstacle of her lacy panties.
The scrap of silk and lace proved no hindrance for Cole, snapping beneath his urgent hands with stunning ease.
He covered her, hovered over her, and paused, the scorching tip of his granite erection poised at her entrance. His body was so hard, everywhere. She couldn’t get her fill of touching him. He lifted his head, his startling, glowing eyes penetrated the passion-induced fog that shrouded her brain. His fingers flexed on her hips, possessive and bruising.
Cole’s voice was deeper, far more powerful than she’d ever heard it before. “I want
you
, Alexandra Elizabeth Sinclair, you and no one else. Don’t you realize yet? Haven’t you figured it out? I love you, Alex. Be with
me
. Be
mine
.” Alex blinked up at him, amazed, overflowing with joy at his unexpected announcement, thrilled he needed her far more than she’d ever hoped. The knowledge kicked open the door of emotions she’d purposefully kept locked tight, letting warmth and pleasure flood her heart and 243
leak out her eyes.
“Only you, Cole,” she managed to reply, breathless but confident. She’d never been more certain of anything in her life. “I love you, too.” His reaction was swift, violent and elemental.
He ravaged her mouth. His body invaded hers in one long insistent thrust after another. He drove into her, harder and harder, grinding to the hilt, and Alex wrapped her arms around him, reveling in his possession, glorying in his fundamental need for her. She locked her legs around him as he rolled his hips, straining deeper and deeper inside her. His breath pounded against her ear, his feverish lips seared her skin. Alex urged him on. Her hands clutched him tighter. Sensation welled and surged. Higher and higher.
As the crests began to break over her, her body shattering in his arms, he pressed his lips to her ear as he spilled himself deep in her womb, a rush of pulsing warmth. “There’s no turning back now, Alex,
you are mine
. I’ll never lose you.” Hours later—after they’d finally gotten around to the
savouring
—as she lay spent in Cole’s arms, with his hands and lips stroking her tenderly, Alex scoffed at her fears of losing herself, of losing her soul. A small, contented smile pulled the edges of her lips up. She’d definitely lost her heart all right, and probably part of her soul as well. But she’d gained something immeasurably more valuable in return.
She’d won Cole’s love.
244
Alex floated in a dreamy haze for the better part of the following day. Perhaps, for that very reason, it was all the more difficult to accept the sight that met her eyes when she entered Cole’s study late that afternoon. Styx reclined on the sofa with a brunette, gasping and panting with excitement, cuddled on his lap. His mouth pressed against her skin. A thin trickle of crimson trailed down the column of her slender throat.
The stack of papers Alex carried in her arms spilled to the floor. The faint shushing of paper against carpet snapped Styx’s head up and around with an unearthly hiss. Huge fangs snarled at her, and his dilated eyes glowed wicked amber. Blood dripped from the lethal tips of his fangs, staining his lips a gaudy scarlet. A shrill, startled scream ripped from her chest, and then she fled, leaving behind ominous cursing in furious Spanish.
She ran down one long hallway after another, desperate to find a safe place to hide…some safe escape…until she collided with a broad, steely chest. Long, strong arms wrapped around her, locking tight. Hysterical, she began to struggle.
“Alex,” Cole’s voice snapped as the top of her head connected sharply with his chin.
As soon as his voice broke through the haze, Alex stilled, her gaze flying up to connect with concerned eyes the color of the cloudless midday sky. She collapsed against him, babbling.
He loosened his grip on her as soon as she 245
stopped fighting to get away, but his hands tightened once more when she began sobbing against his chest. “Slow down. Take a breath, Alex. What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Alex sucked in a ragged breath, nowhere near calm. The hideous mask of fury that was Styx’s face glared back at her every time she closed her eyes. She shook like a leaf in a hurricane. “Cole, we have to get out of here—right now! It’s not safe here, I can’t explain right now… He’s… My God!
We have to get out of here…”
“What happened?” He took hold of her shoulders and forced her back a step, staring into her panicked eyes. His brow creased. “Talk to me, baby. What happened?”
She tugged at his elbows, tearing at his shirt, frantic, but he wouldn’t budge. “Cole, please…” His tone was fierce, demanding. “Alex! Talk to me!”
Frustrated, terrified, Alex let the insensible words pour out. “I went into your study a few minutes ago. I thought you’d be there… I saw…
My God! It doesn’t make any sense…” She pulled at him again, her body straining.
Why wouldn’t he move? They had to get out of there before it was too late…before that monster in Cole’s study came for them.
****
Fearful apprehension snaked down Cole’s spine, understanding burned in his chest. She fisted her hands in the front of his shirt, gritting her teeth as she strained to propel him away from the study. “Cole, please… Styx was there. He had a girl on his lap, and he had… He had his mouth on her neck. When he heard me, he turned to me, and his face… God, Cole, please…” Alex trailed off, squeezing her eyes closed, shuddering. “His 246
teeth were… And his eyes… He
hissed
at me. And the blood…there was so much
blood
.” Gods, it was worse than he’d feared. She was terrified, and it was all his fault. Why had he procrastinated?
Because he’d been searching for a gentle way to ease her into it, afraid of terrifying her and driving her away.
Brilliant idea, slick! Finding out this way was
so
much better!
“Alex.” He measured his words with forced calm, praying he’d be able to get through to her, to help her see they weren’t a danger to her. That she had nothing to fear from them. “Sweetheart, come with me.”
He took her by the hand and tugged her the rest of the way down the hallway. With a confused frown, she followed for a few steps but then she began struggling. “Cole, you don’t understand. We have to
leave
!” Opening the door to his bedroom, he pulled her resistant form through the doorway behind him. With a resigned sigh, he pushed the door closed with the back of his boot, holding her firmly by the shoulders.
“Alex, listen,” he began, willing her anxious eyes to meet his. “I know what you think you saw.
I know what you must be thinking, but it’s not—”
“I know what I saw Cole—”
“I don’t doubt that. I don’t doubt you one bit.”
“You know about Styx?” She gaped at him, incredulous, and froze in his arms.
“Yes, I—”
“My God, Cole,” she exploded, wringing her hands before her. “But he… This doesn’t make any sense. There’s no such thing as…” She trailed away, shaking her head, eyes wide and filled with denial.
247
Cole forced her to acknowledge the truth, speaking aloud the word she refused to face.
“Styx is Vampyre, Alex.”
Alex continued to shake her head, her eyes huge. All the color drained from her face, but Cole nodded. “Yes, Alex, he’s Vampyre. You have to trust me. Styx wouldn’t hurt you. He’s my friend, baby. He has been for a…a very long time. He would never hurt you. Alex, believe me, Styx would only protect you…because you’re mine.”
“Styx is a…a Vampyre…oh my God. But Cole,” she argued, her eyes darting to the door at his back. “I don’t understand. He’s your
friend
?”
“Yes, he’s my friend,” Cole insisted, relaxing now that she’d calmed down…somewhat…now that she didn’t look as if she were ready to bolt at the slightest provocation. “You have nothing to fear, Alex. I promise you.”
Alex drew a deep breath, emotions coursing over her face faster than he could track them.
“But the girl on his lap… And the blood… His teeth were…” She trailed off shaking her head again. Her eyes were wide, horrified. “Cole, he had
fangs
.”
“He was feeding,” Cole explained in calm, rational tones. His hands soothed up and down her arms. “He was careless, not locking the door.
It was inexcusable scaring you like that, but I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose. He would never harm you, sweetheart.”
“But…”
He could see the panic rising in her eyes again, her voice quivered, and so he rushed on.
“The girl on his lap, she wasn’t afraid, was she?
She wasn’t fighting him?”
“No…” Alex frowned. “No, she wasn’t fighting him, but… Can’t…can’t a…can’t one of
them
control their victim’s mind or something?” 248
“Vampyre, Alex. Vampyre.”
Cole paused; he was fast approaching dangerous territory here. He had to explain, just right, or he’d lose her for sure. “In a limited capacity, Vampyre can…offer suggestions a weak mind might be susceptible to. But, as with something like…say, hypnotism for example…in a strong mind, a strong will, the suggestion can be easily ignored. A Vampyre’s bite can be quite erotic. The girl with Styx was a willing host, Alex.
Fully cognizant and completely willing.” Alex was clearly overwhelmed, unable to process it all. Her eyes had gone strangely glassy, and her breathing was much too erratic. But he couldn’t stop now. He needed to finish, he needed to tell her all of it. Now, before it was too late…
Look at her eyes, dumbass. It’s already too
late.
Letting go of her, he paced away, then paced back, dragging his hands down the sides of his face. Pausing a few steps away, he peered at her, hard.
“Do you believe me when I tell you Styx wouldn’t hurt you?” Cole pressed, desperate to convince her. “Baby, I need you to trust me. I need you to believe me. You have to understand you have
nothing
to fear. You are safe, I swear it.” She nodded slowly, eyes wide and wary on his. Hers was the face of a woman on the edge, humoring a madman. Panic clawed at him. He wasn’t getting through. He raked a hand through his hair, his mind racing. Then, without any indication of his intent, he closed the distance between them and swept her into his arms. His lips sealed over hers with a desperate mix of fear and needy tenderness. Severing the contact as quickly as he’d initiated it, he stepped back and peered into her eyes.
249
“Do you trust me?”
An odd look settled over her features. As if she couldn’t quite believe she’d actually even consider accepting his explanations. Frowning, she nodded, slowly. She wasn’t moving farther away from him, physically or emotionally, and he took that as a good sign. “Neither one of us would ever hurt you,” Cole insisted, his eyes boring into hers with frantic desperation. His eyes began to glow, unnatural and bright, he could feel the change.
She gasped and staggered an uncertain step back. Her hand trembled as she clutched her throat, whispering, “Neither one of you…”
“Neither one of us would hurt you, Alex,” Cole repeated, whisper soft and yet fiercely vehement, worried anew by the dawning horror in her eyes.
She narrowed her eyes and forced a swallow, her head jerking a defiant denial. “No, Cole…”
“Yes, Alex.” He stepped forward, but stopped when she took a swift step back, holding her hands defensively up between them.
Alex abruptly spun away from him, closing her eyes. “No! Stop it! I won’t hear this. This is insane…”
Knowing it was cruel to do it this way—
knowing there was no other way to get her to face the truth—Cole set his hands on her shoulders and forced her around to face him. He let emotions swell and surge up inside him, deliberately triggering the change. Horrified, speechless, Alex gaped as he changed into a monster.
Cole opened his mouth to let her see the full truth. His fangs grew long and razor-sharp, right before her stunned eyes.
“This is me, Alex,” Cole rumbled, the timbre of his voice dropped, dark and hoarse. His eyes 250
pleaded with her to understand and accept. “This is a part of who I am.”
Alex jerked away, drawing back in stunned fear. “Oh my God, you’re…you’re like him. You’re a…”
“I am Vampyre,” Cole finished for her, unable—unwilling—to apologize for who and what he was.
“I won’t listen to this.” She pressed a fist to her mouth. Tears welled and spilled over, crystal clear droplets of anguish. Her frantic gaze darted to the door, but her feet did not follow. “Oh, my God! The whole band…”
“No.” Cole held up a placating hand. “Not the entire band, just me and Styx…and Deacon.
Zack’s a Werewolf, actually. The others are Human.”
Her brows lifted at that, and for a split second, laughter, irrational and hysterical, burbled up in her chest. “Ah, hhh…a whaa…a Werewolf…of
course
…”
Not good.
Concerned, Cole frowned and took a step forward, forgetting his fangs and glowing eyes as he reached for her.
She panicked. The laughter died on a fearful sob, and Alex scuttled away from him. His heart sagging beneath the weight of her torment.
“Don’t… Don’t come any closer.”
“Alex, please,” Cole pleaded, an icy fist of panic clutched at his gut, twisting mercilessly.
“This doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change how I feel about you…”
“Stop it! Just
stop
…” Alex pressed her hands to her ears. She stumbled backwards, distraught tears streaming down her cheeks now.
“I love you, Alexandra Sinclair,” Cole insisted, following her across the room, careful to maintain a tiny bit of space…for her sake. That space—the 251
fear in her eyes—was driving tiny stakes into his heart. “You know me, better than anyone else ever has. You
know
me—and you love me, Alex.”
“No, I… I can’t…” But the truth was there in her eyes. Layered with fear, soaked in shock. But it was there.
She
was
in love with him.
He held on to that, fought for it.
Sobbing, she pressed her white-knuckled fists against her chest and turned away, sobbing. It was more than he could bear.
Her heart was on her sleeve, and he pressed his advantage. Turning her to face him, he captured one of her hands, pried her fingers open, and pressed her palm against his own chest. “Feel me, Alex. I
am
the same. Feel my flesh. It’s warm, alive. Feel my heart beating in my chest, beating for you.” His lips twisted in a wry grin. “Cut me and I’ll bleed.” Confused, her eyes rounded. Her hand trembled beneath his but she didn’t try to jerk it away. He tried to convince himself that, too, was a good sign.
“You can’t deny it, Alex. Just like you can’t deny your own heart. You can’t because I know you, too. You
love
me.
Me
, sweetheart. You fell in love with
me
. And
I
won’t let you deny it. I won’t let you take it back. You know…deep down…you know I’d never harm you. You are my life.” The tears kept coming, and she turned away, sliding her hand from beneath his, covering her face with her palms. Great heaving sobs wracked her slight frame.
“Sweetheart…” Cole pleaded, his stomach dropping at the realization that his greatest fear was about to be realized. He was going to lose her. Desperation, despair filled him. How could he survive without her?
252
He couldn’t.
Determined, he closed the distance between them in a blink and reached for her, steeling himself for her rejection. “
Feel
me, Alex. I am the same.
Please
…”
When his hands closed over her shoulders, Alex didn’t jerk away in repulsion, didn’t cry out in alarm. Cole took hope. He slowly turned her to face him, sweeping her long hair back over her shoulder, tipping her face up to his, cradling her cheeks in his palms. Her hands fell helplessly to her sides, and she gazed up into his eyes.
Changed, stark and frightening. But still his.
His heart ached.
“Please, baby…” Emotion clogged his throat, making it even more difficult to speak the words he feared she’d never believe. “I love you.” As if in a trance, Alex lifted a hand to trace the sharp angle of his cheekbone. Her fingers skimmed down his jaw. Her eyes probed his face, searching his eyes. He let all the love he felt for her glow in the depths of his gleaming, dilated eyes, willing her with every cell in his body to believe him. To accept him as he was.
And to love him anyway.
Tentatively, Alex trailed her fingertips over his lower lip, pressing with gentle reluctance. He parted his lips for her, exposing his fangs for her hesitant curiosity. Alex paused, sucking in a sharp breath when presented with the lethal length of them. She blinked, catching her lower lip between her small Human teeth. Cautiously, her finger traced the length of one fang, gum to tip, dawning wonder glistened in her eyes.
Cole shuddered at her touch. The stroke of her finger down his fang was akin to rubbing her hand boldly over his erection. Passion and hunger rose up inside him, making him ache, but 253
he held them tightly in check. Determined to give her time to come to terms with all he’d told her.
He stared at her, while she explored his face. Her confidence built, as did the fascination in her eyes. He fisted his hands at his sides, unwilling to risk frightening her. When she traced his fangs again, it took every shred of his control as he fought desperately not to yank her against him and give in to both of the hungers that rode him mercilessly.
Alex frowned then, chewing her lip. The fierce light of concentration darkened her brow. She reached for his fang once more. Cole wasn’t fast enough to read her intention. He wasn’t prepared for her actions. With studied, deliberate calm, Alex pressed the tip of her finger against the deadly point of Cole’s fang. She let out a tiny gasp and jerked slightly when his fang pierced her flesh easily. Her eyes flew to lock with his, and she froze. Waiting for his reaction.
Cole couldn’t stop the instinctual, predatory growl that erupted from deep in his chest. She flinched at the sound, but his hand shot out faster than she could track it, and he captured her wrist in a grip that was fiercely gentle. His eyes glowed brighter, his vision sharpened. His nostrils flared at the scent of blood—Alex’s sweet, tempting blood—and he drew a ragged breath.