Bound In Death (Bound #5)(17)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her arms were wrapped around his stomach. The guy’s abs were as hard as a rock. His attention seemed totally on the road. Hell, the guy acted as if he didn’t even realize she was clinging so desperately to him.

Jane started to ease her hold.

His right hand lifted and immediately curled around her thigh.

His fingers pressed into her.

The touch heated her. No, he heated her. The awareness that she had for him wasn’t natural. She recognized that. Fear shouldn’t be so tangled with desire, but it was.

She looked at him, and she feared.

She looked at him, and she wanted.

The vibration of that bike continued, making her body too hyperaware and sensitive. Her thighs were aching. And she could all too easily imagine those strong fingers of his sliding between her legs.

Her eyes squeezed shut. Her breath was coming too hard and heavy and her—her fangs were growing.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

She rarely fed.

Her fangs shouldn’t be coming out. She’d worked hard to control them. She’d wanted to blend with the humans. Not freak them out.

But her fangs kept burning as they stretched in her mouth.

“St-stop,” she managed to push the words out.

Because something was wrong.

He didn’t slow.

“Stop!” She yelled to him. “You have to stop!” Because a hunger was building within her, one that was making her body shake.

A hunger for his blood.

She wanted to bite. To sink her fangs into him and taste the werewolf. And that was wrong. As wrong as the desire that kept stirring within her.

A desire to be taken by him—rough and wild and hard.

To be claimed by the man that she didn’t even know.

And if he didn’t let her off that motorcycle—right freaking then—she was going to give in to dark impulses and bite him.

So much for being all confident with Liam and saying that she wasn’t looking for blood. All she could think about right then was getting a drink from Alerac. Sinking her teeth into him. Tasting him.

Heath told me never to take directly from a living human. He said I’d lose control. That I’d kill.

But Alerac wasn’t human.

The motorcycle slowed. Finally. Yes! Before it had even come to a full stop, she jumped from the bike and tried to put some much needed distance between her and her companion.

“Jane!”

She stood on the side of a highway. Underneath the twisting branches of a heavy oak tree. Her right hand was over her mouth. She’d slapped it over her fangs, horrified, because they were fully extended.

He shoved down the kickstand and stalked toward her. “We can’t stop. They’re tracking us.”

Yes, true. But she couldn’t get on that bike with him. There was no way Jane could be that close to him without biting. “I need—”

A shot rang out. Even as it thundered, Jane saw Alerac lunge toward her. His body hit hers—but he hit her an instant too late. Pain spread through her upper chest.

She and Alerac slammed into the ground.

Her shirt was wet. She hurt.

Alerac’s hands were on her. “Not your heart,” he growled. Begged? “Not your heart…”

No, no, her heart was still racing frantically. The shooter had missed her heart, thanks to Alerac and his fast reflexes.

The bullet hadn’t driven into her heart, but it had still penetrated deeply in her chest. And she was bleeding. So much blood pumped from her.

“Find them!” Alerac shouted as his head jerked up. “Kill them! Every last one.”

Chapter Four

Her blood was on his hands. Again.

Her breath rasped out, and her eyes—so afraid—stared up at him.

Alerac had taken her into the woods. Gotten her protection while his men hunted.

“The bullet is still in you.” It had to come out. She would keep bleeding—she wouldn’t be able to heal—until he got it out of her.

“Then…get me to a doctor. A doctor can get it out!” Her words rushed out in a whisper.

Jaw clenching, he shook his head.

He could see every inch of her so perfectly in that darkness. His eyes were a gift and a curse. He could see the terror streaking across her face and the blood that soaked her shirt.

There was so much that she just didn’t seem to understand about her kind. Softly, Alerac told her, “Vampires can die from blood loss.”

He wouldn’t let her die before him.

She shook her head. Her back was against an old oak tree. “Get me to a doctor, Alerac.” Her voice hardened. “He’ll stop the blood.”

Yes, but that would give them another problem. “Human doctors can’t find out what you are.”

“H-Heath…he knows. He kept my secret…” Pain threaded through her voice.

Heath. Alerac planned to deal with that human. “He didn’t keep any secret for you. He sold you out.” His claws pushed from his fingertips, and, carefully, he sliced open the top of her shirt. “And other humans would do the same. They aren’t going to protect a vamp.”

Her hands came up and pushed against him. “Stop!”

He couldn’t. “It has to come out.”

Her eyes widened. There was so much fear in her gaze. “N-not here. You can’t!”

Howls echoed around them as his pack tracked their prey. There were no more gunshots. Just those howls. The fools who’d tried to hurt Jane would be running.

Or they’d be dying.

“I’ll get the bullet out, and then your body will heal.” He tried to keep his voice calm. Hard, when he wanted to bellow his fury.

“Heal?” Jane whispered. “I need to be sewn up! Once I’m sewn up, I’ll heal!”

That wasn’t the way it worked for her. Alerac suspected that Heath had deliberately kept Jane in the dark about the extent of her vampire powers.

“Don’t scream,” he told her. The way she was bleeding…it was too much. He couldn’t afford to waste any additional time.

He took a deep breath, inhaled the scent of her blood, and then his fingers slipped inside of her wound.

She gasped as her body tensed.

He had to use his claws. Fuck, he had to use his claws on her in order to get to that bullet.

I’m sorry, a rúnsearc.

He glanced up at her face. Saw a tear leak down her cheek.

But she wasn’t making any sounds. Wasn’t moving at all. She’d frozen against that tree, as he cut into her.

They will pay. They will beg for death.

He had the bullet. It was still intact. He pulled it from her, slowly, carefully.