“From you, Santiago?”
Once more, he smiles wide, his fangs sliding out of their sheaths and reminding me a bit of the Cheshire cat inAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “You should work for me. I could use fresh blood, a sharp mind.” He holds out a card.
I’m about to take it when he leans in close to me and slides the card into the bust of my dress. His palm brushes against my breast, over my puckered nipple, and I have a feeling that seemingly innocent touch wasn’t meant to be an accident.
Like Lucian, Santiago doesn’t seem like the kind of vampire who does anything on a whim. I guess the brothers share that trait.
“Don’t go down with theTitanic, Ms. Elliot,” he whispers, hisbreath feathering over my face. He’s that close. When his gaze drops to my lips, a sickening feeling stirs in my stomach. “I can help you rise above?—”
Santiago goes flying backward midsentence, narrowly missing the firepit, and crashes into the chairs set up across the patio. The few humans left outside scramble out of the way, rushing back inside to the party.
My blood surges, hot and hungry. Lucian stands in front of me, his entire body vibrating, and I don’t need to see his face to know his fangs are out. The air around him feels charged, like the moment before a storm breaks, and it moves through me like a thrill.
“Touch what’s mine again, and I’ll finish the job I started years ago,” Lucian snarls, sounding more like a savage beast than a man.
I’ve never seen him like this before. This is something raw and unrestrained, all instinct and possession. And my body reacts instantly. A throb of need shoots straight to my pussy.
Santiago laughs as he rises to his feet. “Yours? I don’t see your name on her anywhere.” He pauses. “How’s Penelope?”
Lucian leaps on him, and my stomach drops as his fist connects with Santiago’s face and the sharp scent of blood wafts on the breeze. My hunger ticks up a hundred notches, and I can feel fangs pressing against my lips.
I take a shaky breath. I hate how fast my instincts want to take over. I know Lucian said this constant appetite will dull as time goes by, but I don’t know how. Drinking the richness of blood being pumped from a living heart is all I can think about. And while there are moments of distraction, like being on my knees with Lucian’s cock in my mouth or attending this party, the moment the scent of blood hits my nostrils all other thought is gone.
I don’t want to be a slave to it. Idon’t. But when the shadows stretch across the street and a dark figure breaks into a run toward the park, something animalistic stirs inside me. My hackles rise, and a low growl rumbles in the base of my chest, the predator in me wanting to chase, pounce, and feed. My vision sharpens and the sound of the man’s footsteps thunders in my head.
I glance at Lucian and Santiago, still locked in their standoff, threats snapping back and forth like teeth and each trying to land a hit wherever they can. Santiago’s laughter echoes across the patio, and it only seems to push Lucian closer to the edge.
Then my focus snaps back on the fading human shape hurrying away. My pulse syncs to their footsteps. My mouth waters, and the world reduces to one thing.
Lucian is distracted.
Santiago is occupied.
And I am hungry.
I take off, running fast across the street, the delight of speed whipping through me as I streak like lightning. Despite the tightness of my dress, I still plunge into the darkness, following my prey into the quiet park. I track him past swaying trees and dense bushes, past the tiny lights illuminating the running paths.
Voices whisper, rise, some angry, others soft. I can pinpoint them, all over the vast expanse of the park, the thunder still rolling overhead, but that scent of blood drives me forward.
I’m closing the distance fast.
Blood.Blood. Blood.
The need pumps through my veins.
He’s veered off the path, into the darkness of shadows, but I can see him as if sunlight is pounding down.
I leap at him, fangs bared, only to crash against something solid and hard and then be jerked backward until my ass hits the ground.
Lucian’s voice booms in the silence. “Run!”
The guy doesn’t need another warning. With wide eyes, he takes off.
And when Lucian whirls on me, I understand why. Lucian looks feral. His eyes are an electrifying shade of blue, and his dark hair has mostly fallen out of the queue at the nape of his neck. The skin of his face is so pale I can see purplish veins underneath, and his fangs are on full display.
He’s a monster, unlike I have ever seen him. Worse than when he first ripped Santiago from me. It’s as if he doesn’t know whether to kill me or fuck me in that moment. And my breath stutters as fear and lust collide inside me.
“Lu—” His name dies on my tongue as Lucian’s full weight lands on top of me.
