She wouldn’t have been able to lead Joseph to the hunters, as they didn’t share their blood with anyone, but it was a small consolation in this mess.
“Shit!” he exploded.
Elyse leapt out of bed; she was prepared to run naked out of here. She lifted the ends of the blanket to make her flight easier as she glowered at him. Maybe glaring at the irate vampire wasn’t her best decision, but if he was going to kill her, she was going down with her dignity intact.
Saxon tugged at his hair as he tried to figure out what to do. Not only would the Savages keep coming for her, and this rare talent of hers, but Killean would want to kill her, and Ronan might prefer her dead too. He may have to fight his enemiesandhis friends to keep her alive.
Which meant he may have to give up everything he’d ever cared about for theenemy. He could feel a vein throbbing in his forehead. Finally,finally, he knew peace from his inner demon, and it was with a woman who nearly destroyed his friends.
But she had no choice. Saxon recalled the jars over the fireplace, her lacerated feet, too big clothes, and the cans stacked so neatly in the cabinets. She hadn’t willingly worked with the Savages. Her ability was a powerful threat, but she wasn’thisenemy. He didn’t know what she was exactly, but he would find out before jumping to conclusions.
“If you’re going to kill me, then do it,” she said.
He recoiled at her words, and his fangs lengthened at the idea. “I wouldneverhurt you.”
If he didn’t plan to kill her, then was he going to imprison her? “You don’t have my dad to use against me; I won’t do for you and your friends what the Savages made me do for them.”
“I would never—”
“I won’t be a prisoner again!”
Saxon heard the raw terror lacing her voice. “I would never do that to you, Elyse.”
She didn’t know if she believed him or not, but she’d come this far, and there was no turning back. “What did you mean by ‘You’re the mole?’”
“Last June, did Joseph come to you and offer you some of his blood?”
Elyse’s blood ran cold as she recalled the worst time of her life. “I’m not sure if it was June or not, but yes. And he didn’tofferit to me; he slit his palm with a knife, tore my shirt off, and placed his palm in the center of my chest.”
For a second, Saxon only saw red. “I’d like to kill him all over again.”
Elyse blinked at this statement. Was he mad Joseph had done that to her, or was he angry at her? She felt like she was walking on cracking ice and just waiting to plummet into the frigid water below. She was certain Saxon was going to turn on her; instead, he was looking to kill a dead man for her.
She hated to admit, but it gave her a small measure of security. If he were concerned about her, maybe he wouldn’t turn against her.
“Okay,” Saxon said when he regained control of a temper he hadn’t realized he possessed until meeting Elyse. “So he put his blood on you and then what?”
“And then he gave me a map and told me to find her.”
Saxon frowned at her. “Maybe you should tell me how your ability works.”
“I’m not sure how it works. All I know is when I get blood on me, the stench of burnt copper fills my nose, and my skin absorbs it.”
“Your skinabsorbsthe blood?”
She rolled her eyes at the disbelieving look on his face. “Not all of it. I’m not some human sponge, but it absorbs some of it.”
“And then what happens?”
“Then… well, then it gets really weird and uncomfortable.” She shifted as she recalled the feel of another’s blood seeping into her system. “I can feel their cells mixing and blending with mine until it’s almost like they’re a part of me and, for a bit, they are a piece of me. If it’s onlythatperson I’m trying to find, they’re like an extension of myself and easy to hunt down.”
“But if it’s someone else with that person’s blood in them, like a turned vampire they created, it becomes more difficult?”
“Yes. I never knew I could track someone through another’s blood until the Savages came for me. They must have assumed I could do it, and if I couldn’t, they probably would have found some other use for me, or they would have killed me.”
“How did the Savages know youhavethis ability?”
“Because of my mother,” she muttered.
