I ran.
My hair swirled behind me, legs pumping with a new rush of adrenaline. A vampire sliced through the low limbs and brush, close enough for me to hear, but I did not turn my head. It had to be Lord Montag, unless one of his party had decided to ignore his decree. I pitched over a fallen log, the hem of my skirts catching on the rough bark and tearing. But the immortal was gaining on me, their footsteps deliberately louder.
A scream curled up my throat as I veered to the right, hoping perhaps they would be caught off guard. But long arms caught me and my cry tore from my chest as hair filled my vision and I was hefted against a body made of stone. The vampire’s hold loosened when I twisted and they let go. Or more truly: theyletme go. Without a thought I careened away, my heart a kettledrum in my ears.
Branches rustled to my right and I turned left, only to hear them ahead. I turned, dipping beneath wide leaves and slipping in the bracken. Heat seared through my ribs as mybreaths turned ragged. Soon I would need to stop. I would have to find a place to hi?—
A chest slammed against my back, arms lifting me high until I was staring at the canopy of trees and the night sky beyond. I screamed, pitching myself forward only to be turned toward him. The immortal growled low when my back hit the trunk of a nearby tree. His chest was impossibly wide, shoulders rippling with strength, and the power that emanated from him was unearthly—as if I was in the arms of a god.
He was too close for me to see his face, but a familiar scent surrounded me when his lips pressed to my throat with a growl.“Mine.”
I moaned.
His knee slid between my thighs, holding me in place as he dragged his teeth across my skin. “I was not supposed to hunt you, little bird.”
The voice rumbling around me did not sound like Lord Azad’s usual smooth tone. This was guttural—an immortal on the brink of losing control. His arm tightened around me, one shifting up until he could thread his fingers into my loose hair while the other pressed my hips tighter against him. The unmistakable feel of his length straining against his trousers pulsed and he gave one tiny thrust.
“I was not supposed to want you to hunt me,” I answered breathlessly.
Before I could finish the words, however, his teeth pierced my throat. A low moan slid from my lips, ecstasy rushing across my limbs. Lord Azad tore through all my walls as if they had never existed. Bright pops of light and color exploded across my eyes while I stared unseeing at the forest beyond. My hands delved into his hair, holding him to me, and my hips began a slow rock against his firm thigh.
“Merciful fucking goddess,”I rasped.
His low chuckle was another ember in the fire burning within me. Each pull of my blood was a direct line to my clit.
I could not find it in myself to be embarrassed at the desperate way I begged when the pleasure coiled tighter. “Don’t stop, please don’t stop.”
Lord Azad drank deeper, his satisfied rumble vibrating across my chest and belly. I writhed beneath him, riding his thigh toward my own satisfaction. A small part of me panicked, reminded me we should not be doing this, we could be discovered, but I could not give it a moment’s notice. Because I was here in his arms and his teeth were in my throat and for the very first time in my life all was right with the?—
“AZAD!”
My ears rang in the silence that followed. Lord Azad’s arms tightened protectively as he withdrew his fangs from my neck. I gave a pitiful whimper when the pleasure that had been so close to cresting fell away. Those citrine eyes blazed as they looked into mine—my blood dripping from his lips and onto the swell of my breasts—but the male I knew was not there within his gaze. There was no hint of the immortal who had played for me in the music shop or the one who had led me through a dance like a dream.
Warmth slid down my throat from the wound. His pupils dilated until only a thin band of gold remained and he leaned down, lapping at the bite and sending another shock through my sex. As he drew back, an itching spread across the gash, but he did not put me down.
“I told you she was mine!”
Lord Azad growled low, forcing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I stared wide-eyed as he slowly lowered me to my feet and turned. I was right: the male in front of me now was no longer the polished aristocrat of this time. He crouched forward with one arm extended protectively toward me while the other tensed at his side.
“She is not yours,” he snarled.
But Lord Montag was in a similar rage, his pale face flushed with blood that he’d obviously drunk from another giver already. He took a step closer. “I told you?—”
“Back.”The word was a command and, impossibly, Gerald stumbled away a step.
Lord Azad trembled, his muscles coiled, and another low growl filled the forest. The younger vampire also crouched.
“I paid for her. She is?—”
In a flash Gerald dangled in Lord Azad’s grip, feet kicking in the air. “Speak another word and I will kill you without a second thought.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Beginning of the Hunt
Lord Montag nodded to Jules and disappeared into the forest in the next breath.
I hung back, gesturing for those around me to enter first. Mateo and Henry went quickly, just to observe the chaos—Mateo had not drunk human blood in centuries—but a few hesitated, rocking back and forth on their feet until I sighed and made my way in. The forest was quiet, the moss and decay overwhelming as it mixed with the scent of human and vampire alike.
