“I what? What’s my huge crime, loving you?” I thumped a hand on my chest, tears burning my eyes. “Wanting you to choose empathy over death?”
A thousand emotions flickered over his face—pain, regret, guilt, anguish.
“Yes, Amelia, yes.” His voice came out a near whisper. “I cannot be something I’m not.”
The anger drained out of me. “Your problem isn’t choosing to be something you’re not. The problem is you hide everything you are.”
Caught in a web of emotion, neither of us noticed Leah’s eyes click open. Or her hand moving toward my leg, or her teeth baring. There was a sudden fierce pain slamming into my calf.
Startled, I cried out and looked down. Leah’s claws were digging into my calf, tearing my skin as she yanked me to her. Her face was coming for my leg, her razor-sharp teeth only inches away, so close I could feel her breath on my skin.
I lifted my other foot and kicked her in the face as hard as I could. With bare feet, it was like kicking concrete. A sharp pain shot through the bottom of my foot as my ankle cracked, thepain vibrating up my leg. The floor shifted, I was about to go down, and if I fell, she’d kill me.
A fast black blur.
Crack!
His fist slammed down on her head.
Her claws went slack and she collapsed to the floor, her mouth opening with a ravaged scream.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Her skull shattered. He slammed down over and over again. The screaming turned into a pitiful moan.
And … something wetter, slushier. Blood and brain leaked through a huge gaping hole in her head. She stopped moaning, her mouth gaped open, her eyes glazed and flat like marble.
My stomach curdled. She was dead.
A vampire who was going to kill me.
She was still a woman.
She was still the children’s mother.
Karson stopped. His breathing was ragged, his body stiff, his fists still curled?—
Oh God, his fist—a mush of what look like brain dangled from a knuckle.
He lifted his eyes—his dead black eyes. I stumbled back.
He blinked slowly and the black faded to hazel. He blinked again as if he finally registered my presence.
My hand slapped to my mouth as I gagged, choking on the bile. My ears rang and my vision, soaked in blood, became raided with black dots. I closed my eyes and swallowed heavily, trying to get rid of the burn.
She was dead. He killed her because I couldn’t protect myself.
“Amelia, are you alright?” His panicked face wavered before my blurred vision. “Did she bite you?” His voice seemed close and yet far away.
My gaze dropped to his hand. Oh, he’d wiped the brain and blood off, his fist already clean. The doctor in Tom would be impressed. I almost laughed. I almost cried.
“Did she bite you?’ he repeated as he scooped me into his arms, and in flash he sat me on the stairs and lifted my foot up. I heard him, but the words wouldn’t come out. I winced as pain shot through my ankle.
Relief washed over his face. “It’s fine.” He placed my foot back down and stood up, then began to pace back and forth. “Do not ever kick a vampire in the mouth without shoes on.” He stopped and turned; the panic was gone and in its place was fury. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking of getting her teeth away from my leg,” I snapped.
His expression softened slightly. “Why didn’t you use your powers?”
