“No! Get away from me!” Releasing her nightgown, she went to shove at his chestagainbut then thought better of it. She didn’t want to touch him again, didn’t want to feel the heat of his body again. She was afraid she would lose her will if she did. “You just left her bed and now... now...” She broke off, unable to speak through the anger and humiliation. She was appalled at herself, infuriated with him, and all she wanted to do was run to her room, bury herself under her blankets, and forget that this awful experience had ever happened.
His eyes narrowed as they gleamed dangerously in the dark. Isabelle inhaled sharply as his gaze traveled slowly over her. “You didn’t mind a minute ago,” he replied sneeringly.
The breath rushed out of as all of her composure snapped and rage sprang forth. Without thinking, she swung her hand up with every intention of hitting him. He caught it easily, holding it tightly within his large, powerful hand. For a moment, she was truly frightened as his face became as hard as granite, and his eyes became cold chips of brutal black ice. He looked unbelievably deadly, and she knew that no matter how strong she was, he could snap her in half if he chose too.
“Don’t,” he growledin warning.
Her eyes blazed with fury,the fear left her gaze, and she glared hatefully at him. Stefan stood for a moment longer, shaking with anger, and unfulfilled lust as he met her furious stare. Then, he dropped her arm and stepped away from her before he found himself unable to let her go. She stared at him for a moment longer;her eyes flickereduncertainly over his face before she slid wearily off the counter. He made no move toward her as she tilted her chin, cast him a scathing look, and stormed away.
Sighing angrily, Stefan leaned against the counter, admiring the sway of her hips as she hurried away. He closed his eyes against the fierce pressure in his throbbing groin, and the overwhelming disappointment that seized him. Damn, he thought silently. He hadn’t meant to say what he had to her, hadn’t meant to be so cruel. It was himself that he was mad at, not her. But he had been so aroused, and so irritated when she had told him to stop, that he hadn’t been able to stop himself from getting nasty with her.
And the kick in the ass of it all was that it washisdamn fault. He knew that she had been willing, that he could have had her before she even knew what was happening, but he had completely forgotten about Jess. Of course she would smell Jess on him, in him. She was one of his kind after all.
“Shit,” he muttered, slamming his hand on the counter in frustration.
Shoving himself away from it, he stormed over to the door and flung it open, desperate to escape from the suddenly stifling confines of the house. A nice dip in the lake was just whathe needed to douse his arousal so he could attempt to sort out the mess that he had gotten himself into.
CHAPTER 8
Isabelle was in the worst mood of her life when she woke the next day. Not only had she gotten almost no sleep, but that miserable jerk had ruined what little sleep she did get by invading her dreams. Dreams that had left her tingling, and aching, and longing for something that she didn’t understand. Dreams that started where last night had ended. Dreams that shedidn’twant torecall, but couldn’t forget.
She dressed quickly in a pair of cut off shorts, and a lose tank top before pulling her hair into a ponytail. Glancing at the basement window she was surprised to note that the sun was just starting to rise. She scowled angrily, she was never up this early, and that was his damn fault too. So was the fact that she was extremely hungry. So hungry that her body was burningwithit.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the fire racing through her veins. She tried to recall the last time she had fed, but she couldn’t remember. It had been before Stefan came, four, no five days ago. Hunger suddenly raged through her, hot and burning with its intensity. She had never let herself go this long before, but she had been so obsessed with him, and trying to stay away from him, that she had completely forgotten about it. Her body was now painfully reminding her.
Hurrying out of the basement, she practically ran up the stairs in her eagerness to ease the pain in her body. She froze in the doorway of the living room when Jess came out of the downstairs bathroom,headingfor the kitchen. She looked exceptionally pretty with her light blond hair flowing down her shoulders and back.She wasdressed in a pair offormfittingjeans, and a tight tank top that emphasized her full chest, and curvy figure.
Isabelle was suddenly rocked by a fierce bolt of jealousy that shook her to the core and left her breathless. Determined to smother the emotion, she grit her teeth fiercely against it and took a deep breath. She didn’t give a damn what the arrogant ass did, or who he did it with. After last night, she knew that she had beenright;she had not stumbled across her soul mate, but just the first man that she had ever been attracted too. The man was too infuriating, too arrogant, and way too cruel to ever be someone that she was meant to spend the rest of her life with.
The attraction she had felt for him was officially over, she would not allow herself to be charmed by him ever again. No matter how he made her feel, no matter how much she wanted to respond to him. A fierce flush started to creep up her cheeks as she recalled exactly how wantonly she had responded to him last night. She had never thought, never imagined, that she could be so easily swept away by passion. So easily lose such complete control of herself. She wanted to blame that on him too, but it was the one thing that she was willing to take part of the blame for. She had reveled in his kisses, in his caresses, and if she hadn’t smelled Jess...
Isabelle closed the thought off as her face grew even hotter. She didn’t want to think about what could have happened, what she would have willingly allowed to happen if Jess’s scent on him, andinhim,hadn’t assaulted her. It didn’t matteranyway;it was never going to happen again. Isabelle closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady hernerves. It was too damn early in the morning to have to deal with Jess on top of everything else.
“Hi,” Jess greeted coldly.
She opened her eyes to find Jess staring at her, anger radiating from her, as she stood with her hand on the handle of the fridge. For a horrifying moment, Isabelle feared that she still smelled of Stefan, stillwreakedof him. It took her a minuteto recall that Jess was human, and wouldn’t be able to smell him on her. Sagging with relief,she sighed softly as her fear vanished. Jess’s hostility had nothing to do with last night.For some reason,she simply didn’t like Isabelle, and Isabelle didn’t particularly care.
“Hey,” she forced herself to mumble in return.
Jess’s blue eyes narrowed slightly as Isabelle moved toward her. “Have you seen Stefan?”
Isabelle looked at her in surprise, a fierce wave of guilt rushedthrough her. Not only had she acted like a wanton whore last night, but she had done it with Jess’s boyfriend. She may not particularly like Jess, and Stefan may not care about Jess’sfeelings, but Isabelle did. Never had she thought of herself as a careless, hurtful person, but her behavior last night proved that she was. And that was his damn fault too!
“No,” she managed to say. “Why?”
Jess’s eyes narrowed on her for a moment and it took every ounce of control she had to keep her face as impassive as possible. Inside,she was a seething mass of guilt and horror as she blandly returned Jess’s gaze. Jess finally shrugged and turned away from her. “He wasn’t in bed when I got up this morning. He usually doesn’t get up until late.”
“Hmm,” Isabelle grunted in reply. Now she could add lazy to his ever growing list of faults.
The scent of Jess’s blood suddenly assaulted her, causing the fierce burning in her veins to become almost unbearable. She closed her eyes, willing the beast to go away as she leaned against the long counter, trying to get her breathing under control. She never should have gone this long without feeding, and she never would have if she hadn’t been so preoccupied with trying to avoid the idiot living with them.
In the past three days he had managed to turn her world entirely upside down, and she greatly resented him for it. She fed the flames of her anger and resentment, determined to use them as weapons against him if heevertried to come near her again.
Jess’s startled cry caused her to jump in surprise, and her eyes to fly open. “What is it?” Isabelle demanded.
Jess spun away from the fridge, her mouth gaping, and her eyes wide as she held up a bag of blood. Isabelle had only a moment to blink in surprise before Jess started making awful, strangled cries, and flung the bag across the room. Isabelle moved quickly, snatching it out of the air as Jess’s cries echoed loudly in her ears. “Jess, calm down! Just calm down!”she urged.
“What isthatdoing in the fridge?” she yelled hysterically.
