“I’m going to kill him,” Finn’s wolf promised.
“No. He said he will kill me if you attack. He’s not bluffing.”
Finn growled, but she felt his emotions calm slightly. Lizzy’s eyes started to roll back in her head, but then she felt a firm slap against her face. “Stay awake, Lizzy.” Alice hurried along beside Cain.
Lizzy saw overhead lights passing and realized Cain was running. Lizzy lost track of how many turns they made, but finally they stopped. She heard a massive pounding and turned her head to see a huge metal door. It was deformed. The steel was bent and misshapen, as if it had been repeatedly struck with a battering ram. The door shuddered as another hit came.
“Calm yourself, wolf.” Cain snarled. “Back away from the door. I’m going to bring her in. Alice is coming in to monitor Lizzy’s vitals. You will not touch a hair on Alice’s head.”
A howl was Finn’s answer.
“I promise he has a bigger vocabulary than snarling and howling. He’s just a little frustrated at the moment,” Lizzy said and then coughed. Her heart skipped a beat, and it made her catch her breath.
“Open the door, Cain.” Alice snapped. Her fingers were against Lizzy’s throat. “She’s having arrhythmias.”
Cain motioned for someone, and Lizzy heard the creak of metal. Cain moved forward and bared his fangs. “Step back.”
“Give her to me.” Finn’s voice was so close. And it wasn’t in her mind.
Lizzy suddenly wanted Cain’s hands off of her immediately. She smelled the most delicious scent, and her mouth watered.
“Back up to the far wall,” Cain ordered.
“Just do it, Finn,” Alice practically yelled. “If you want her to live, do as he says now.”
Cain stepped farther inside and then held Lizzy’s body out to Finn. Lizzy felt like she was floating. She closed her eyes, and her vision began to fade. Warmth enveloped her as strong arms came around her. She was turned, and her body pressed to a firm chest. “Finn.” She sighed. At least she would die in his arms. That was better than dying on the floor of a room that had been her jail cell.
“You’re not going to die, my Lizzy.” His chest rumbled against her ear as he spoke. Finn lifted her up, and she felt her face pressed against warm skin. She took a breath and smelled that delicious scent again. And then she heard it. Bump-bump, bump-bump. Finn’s heartbeat. She turned her face inward and felt his pulse against her lips. “Bite me.”
She felt like laughing, but she didn’t have the energy. “Never thought someone would tell me that and mean it literally.”
“Quit talking, mate.” He snarled. “Feed.”
Lizzy’s wolf stirred, pushing her. Some deeply buried instinct rose within her. Lizzy opened her mouth and latched onto his neck. She felt pointy teeth hit his flesh, but as soon as they broke the skin, the warmth of liquid ambrosia hit her tongue. Everything else was forgotten. She felt his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him. Lizzy sank her teeth in deeper and groaned as she swallowed Finn’s blood. She probably should have been disgusted because she was sucking on her man’s neck, and it wasn’t to give him a hickey. Instead of making out, she was drinking his blood to keep from dying.
“Take what you need, mate,” he said through their bond. She noticed the bond between them was much stronger now. The connection seemed to have solidified somehow.
Lizzy felt stronger with each swallow. Her free arm, which had hung limp, rose. She wrapped it around Finn’s neck and buried her fingers in his hair. She pressed closer, needing to touch him. Skin on skin, her wolf said in her mind. Lizzy remembered that Alice had covered her with a blanket. She went to push it away, but Finn snarled, and it was a terrifying sound, even worse than earlier. He rewrapped the blanket around her, tighter than before.
“What are those marks?” Lizzy heard Alice ask. “She didn’t have tattoos before.”
“Mine.” Finn growled, or rather Finn’s wolf.
“That’s enough, wolf,” Cain said. “Don’t think that because she’s your mate, she won’t drain you dry. We don’t yet know which urges are stronger.”
Lizzy’s eyes snapped open as Cain’s words penetrated her bloodlust-fogged brain. Could she actually kill Finn? She didn’t want to drain anyone dry, least of all the man she’d fallen in love with. She tried to pull away, but Finn continued to press against the back of her head.
“I’m fine, my Lizzy. I’m not going to die.”
“I’m good, too. I don’t need anymore.”
She felt his frustration and his determination. “Just a little more.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to mark you, which requires me to drink your blood. I won’t take much, but my wolf is feeling very possessive. With a vampire standing less than five feet away, he might take a little more than necessary. But not enough to hurt you,” he added quickly. Finn must have felt the worry through the bond at those words.
“Why would the vampire make him want to take more?”
