The beat of her pulse drew his attention to her neck; his fangs pricked in response to the blood flowing through her. He’d never fed from another vampire before, but he craved the blood racing through her veins.
His fingers slid over her shoulder and brushed against her neck. This woman tried to kill him and broke his nose, but he wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone. Resting his other hand on the boulder behind her, he leaned closer until their lips nearly touched.
He traced the contour of her cheek while waiting for her to push him away, but she simply stared at him like she was as confused by him as he was by her. Then, his lips found hers and all his confusion vanished.
Thiswas what he hadn’t known he was missing. Everything else vanished, and the only thing remaining in this world was Charlie. Whereas he’d forgotten nearly every other kiss he experienced, he would always remember this one. The taste of her burned into him as surely as a brand marked cattle.
Then her mouth opened, and when his tongue slid inside to taste her, she met it with slow strokes that became bolder and stronger as the kiss deepened. Her fingers entwined in his hair as she drew him closer and kissed him with an enthusiasm that more than matched his. As the passion built between them, so did something powerful within Jack; it took him a minute to realize it was a feeling of possessiveness.
Charlie washis.He had no idea where the feeling came from or why it was so strong, and he was too caught up in her to analyze it. Clasping her face between his palms, he relished the feel of her as he kissed her.
This shouldn’t be happening. There were a million reasons why she should stop thisright now, but Charlie couldn’t think when he was kissing her like this.Noone had ever kissed her like this before; she’d never known kisses like this could exist. How could someone feel so alive while feeling as if they were on fire?
His lips felt like they were melting her bones and leaving her a limp pile of goo with no sense of reasoning beyondmore, more, more.Charlie hated not having control over things; she should despise feeling this way, but sherelishedit.
Then, voices outside the rocks drifted to her, and she recalled why they were standing in the middle of these rocks. Charlie pulled herself away from Jack and gasped in a breath. Thankfully, her hold on Jack helped keep her upright when her legs almost gave out.
No,notthankfully. He’d made her forget her surroundings and briefly made her forget Dylan. Guilt tore through her. Dylan was her world; how could she have forgotten him when he was probably worried sick about her? She’d been gone far longer than usual to do a routine check of their traps and entrances.
She had to get back to him soon, and she had to stay away from Jack. He was a distraction she couldn’t afford in this place. Untangling her hands from his hair, she pulled his hands off her face and glowered at him. It wasn’t his fault her sex drive had become stronger than a sixteen-year-old boy’s around him, but she’d been doing fine until he dropped out of the sky.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, to apologize, to dosomethingto ease the infuriated look from her face, but voices from outside stopped him.
“Where are we?” a woman whimpered.
“I don’t know,” another woman said.
“We… we… have to call the police or something. Maybe the EPA or the FBI.”
“The EPA? What would the EPA do?” a man asked.
“I don’t know, but did you see theireyes? They werered!I mean, that has to be from an environmental accident, maybe radiation fallout or something.”
“I don’t think that was from radiation,” the second woman said.
“Then what?” the first woman asked. “Whatelsecould it be from?”
“I don’t know,” the man said. “And I don’t want to know. I want to get as far from all of them as possible. Let’s go, and be quiet.”
Jack turned his attention back to Charlie. “Can they come with us?”
Charlie hesitated as she replayed their conversation in her head. They had to be humans, and though it might be better if they left them to do their own thing while they returned to the tunnels, she couldn’t leave them roaming the woods. That was a death sentence.
“Yes,” she said.
“I’ll be back,” Jack said.
“I’m coming with you.”
Jack opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, piercing screams filled the air. Instinctively, he stepped closer to Charlie, pushing her against the boulders as his fangs lengthened. He rested his hands on either side of her head.
If Charlie weren’t here, he would see if he could help, but he wouldn’t risk giving away her location by leaving here. She was a fighter, but judging by the frenzied sounds of feeding, there was a small pack of vampires out there. If they killed him, she would be on her own against them.
No, he couldn’t risk her safety for strangers.
Charlie almost clasped her hands over her ears as the sounds of death resonated through the air, but she was not a child. It was too late to save the humans, but she would not hide from their brutal deaths. Jack’s body vibrated against hers, and red flickered in his eyes.
The smell of blood pricked his appetite, but that wasn’t what caused his fangs to lengthen as the impulse to kill thrummed through his veins. No, what caused that was the realization there were Savages so close toCharlie.
