Chapter 12
Zane sprawled in the chair, his mind spinning, his body impossibly sated. The fire crackled with subdued energy, glowing through the cabin. What in the fucking hell had he just done? He kept his gaze on Janie as she slept so peacefully in the big bed. After mind-blowing sex, the woman had drifted to sleep.
He’d waited a few moments before yanking on his pants and fetching a towel to clean her up. Blood had dotted her thighs, giving proof of their union. She’d waited for him, which both humbled him and filled him with masculine pride. Already in dreamland, the woman hadn’t moved as he’d administered to her.
Finally, he’d dropped into the chair.
The burning across his palms forced him to look again.
Bothfucking palms.
A rare Z cut hard and deep across his hands. From the name of his demon ancestors, the Zane family. He’d been named for them.
God.He’d mated Janie.
She was going to kill him. Rightfully. He hadn’t planned to bind them and sure as hell hadn’t realized the mating would happen. But once inside her, his body and instincts had taken over. They’d agreed to one night, just to know each other. Now she was trapped.
If he died soon, and surely Suri already had a contract on Zane’s head ready to go, then Janie was stuck for life. A demon/vampire hybrid mating a human was so damn rare, and there was no way out of it.
She murmured in her sleep and rolled over onto her stomach. As if drawn, he stood and quietly leaned over her, tugging down the bedclothes. Twin Z’s, along with his large handprints, spread almost magically across her lower back. Her entire lower back and around her rib cage—right above two perfect globes. His woman had a great ass.
Primitive satisfaction filled his chest and pissed him off even more. Yet the ‘mine’ that rumbled from his chest wouldn’t be silenced.
The world began to lighten outside, and he pulled on his shirt. Should he leave her a note? If so, what the hell should it say?Sorry, baby, I just mated you so you’ll never find anybody else when I die? XOXO, see you soon, if your family doesn’t cut off my head the second they smell you on me.
Fuck. No way.
Maybe she’d sleep until he returned. Grumbling, he strode into the kitchen to grab a notepad.
Janie Belle,
We need to talk.
Zane
He rubbed his chin as he left the note on the table. Then he took one last good look.
She slept on her stomach, her head turned to the side, her expression one of peaceful abandon. Firelight kissed her delicate features and highlighted her stubborn chin. Her skin was smooth, her muscles toned, and a sense of innocence and sweetness all but surrounded her.
His heart thumped. Hard. “Mine.”
Keeping his gaze on her until the last second, he drew power up through his feet to his head, filling himself with the universe and naturally bending the binding of physical laws. Visualizing the computer room in Idaho, he allowed his molecules to separate and then regroup, finally closing his eyes.
This time he landed on his feet.
Nick looked up, his eyes bloodshot, three empty coffee cups next to him. “’Bout time you got here. Learn to jump with a damn cell phone, would you?”
Zane shrugged and shoved his guilty hands into his pockets. Besides the brand, the damn things were shaking. He had to stop jumping so often. God knew what was happening with his internal organs. “Can’t. A phone won’t make the jump.” He frowned to see Sam up on the screen, and then Logan came into view. “Thank God,” Zane muttered, taking a deep breath finally.
Logan grinned, his green eyes sparkling in a bruised face. He’d cut his black hair short, and a three-day stubble covered his square jaw. “Hi, Bro.”
Zane nodded, his shoulders relaxing. “You all right?”
“Fine. Just fighting vampires in Zimbabwe.” Young and earnest, Logan’s face nevertheless held a new hardness. Killing and surviving stamped them every time.
A twenty-year-old shouldn’t be fighting, damn it. Zane clenched his hands into fists in his pockets and leaned closer to the screen. “Sam, get him out of there. Now.”
Nick spoke before Sam could. “I found your mother.”
