A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2)(35)
Author: Kresley Cole

He could deny nothing. He ran his hand over his face as everything she said sank in. His feelings for her had become clearer to him, just as hers had reached a boiling point with him. He wanted to admit to her that she was his mate – that he hadn’t kept her with him solely to hurt her. He knew he couldn’t tell her now.

"Like everyone else, you walk right over me and never even look back to see how I fared," she said, her voice cracking at the end, making regret cut at him. "Whoa, better shut myself up before I get too upset. Don’t want to offend you with my repulsive tears!"

"No, Emma, wait – "

She slammed her car door shut, seeming surprised by her strength, then stalked away over the dirt lot. He let her go, though he moved to keep her in sight.

He saw her sink down on a bench beside the station building and put her forehead in her hand, sitting like that for many moments. Just as he finished refueling, a strange chill wind blew, bringing a mist of rain with it and brushing a flower against her knee. She plucked the spent flower, smelled it, then wadded it up in frustration.

He realized she’d never seen one blooming in the sun. His chest tightened with some unfamiliar feeling, so strong it shook him.

The problems between them weren’t because he’d been given the wrong mate. They were because he couldn’t adapt –

Three vampires appeared out of nowhere just beside her.

To take her away from him forever.

In an instant, he knew he should let her go to her family and free her from his hatred and pain. Earlier, as he’d tightened his hand around her throat, she’d stared up at him, begging him. She’d believed he was going to kill her. He could have so easily.

The bruises on her neck stood out like an accusation in the harsh lights.

But she gaped at them, as if shocked they’d just appeared when this was the way they traveled.

The scene hit him as wrong. He leapt over the top of the car for her and they turned. The largest one was…a demon? Yet all of their eyes were solid red. A demon turned vampire?

"Stay back, Lykae, or we’ll kill you," one of the vampires grated.

As Lachlain charged for her, the oddest thing happened.

Crying his name, she sprinted for him.

Chapter 11

16

Before he could reach her, one tackled Emma to the ground, the impact wrenching her breath away. Lachlain bellowed with rage. If he couldn’t reach her…if she couldn’t fight hard enough…the vampire could easily trace her. The two others appeared between him and Emma, baring their fangs. When she dug at the earth to escape, the beast rose up inside Lachlain and he let it free. He’d never wanted her to see it…

Power surged through his body with the turning. Outrage. Protect.

The smaller vampire hissed, "She’s his mate!" just before Lachlain attacked, slashing at him. He ripped and bit his body to pieces as he warded off blows from the other.

The mist turned to hard, stinging rain with lightning clattering all around. Lachlain twisted the vampire’s neck with his fingers until he’d separated it, then faced off against the demon. It was strong, but coming off injuries. Lachlain’s claws were drawn to the wounds unerringly, just as the demon aimed for his leg. From the corner of his eye, Lachlain saw Emma wrestle to get free of the third. She rolled to her back beneath him, then soundly knocked her forehead against her attacker.

The fiend howled in pain and slashed down her chest, leaving deep furrows that gushed blood into the mud. Lachlain roared and leapt for the demon between them. One slash of his claws rent the demon’s head from his body, sending both pieces flying in different directions.

The last vampire, crouched over Emma, stared up at him in horror, frozen, seeming too shocked to trace. As Lachlain swung for the killing blow, he saw Emma had squeezed her eyes shut.

Rid of the third, Lachlain fell to his knees beside her. She opened her eyes as if she couldn’t help it, blinking up at him, stricken by his appearance, more shocked by him than her wound or the attack. As he grappled for control, he comprehended that she was struggling to speak, choking on her blood and the pouring rain. All the while still edging away from him. She’d run to him before, but after witnessing what he was, she fought him.

Against her weak resistance, he scooped her into his arms. He shook his head hard, breathing in deeply. "I will no’ hurt you." His voice was low, broken, and, he knew, unrecognizable.

With a shaking hand, he tore open what was left of her shirt, and as the rain washed away the blood and mud, he could see the damage that had savaged her delicate skin down to the bone. He clutched her to him and roared, needing to kill them again. She whimpered at the sound and, amid the rain, pink tears tracked from her eyes.

That alone was enough to give him the strength to take control.

When he reached the car, he threw open the back door to lay her down on the seat, gently pulling her long hair out of the doorway before shutting her in. He rushed into the driver’s seat, then raced down slippery roads for Kinevane, glancing back every few seconds. Dread settled over him when half an hour had passed and she still showed no signs of regeneration. Her wounds continued to bleed freely with none of the closure he should already be seeing.

Never slowing, he bit his wrist open and thrust it back to her lips. "Drink, Emma!"

She turned her face away. He put it against her once more, but she refused, clenching her jaw shut. She could die if she didn’t drink.

He’d been so busy hating what she was that he hadn’t worried about how she saw him.

He pulled to the side of the road, reaching back to dig his fingers into her mouth and part her teeth. When he dripped blood into her mouth, she couldn’t stop herself from latching onto him, closing her eyes and drinking deeply. She stopped bleeding at once. When she passed out, he sped off again.

The drive to Kinevane was a new kind of hell for him. He ran his other arm over his forehead, sweating, not knowing if more would attack or where they’d come from. He didn’t know if she was strong enough to sustain this wound. How had she known to run from them?

He’d almost lost her four days after finding her…

No, he’d almost given her away, allowed them to take her to Helvita – which he’d never been able to find. He’d scoured Russia for it, perhaps had just gotten close when they’d ambushed him last time.

So close to losing her… Now he knew he would do anything to keep her.

He could work past his pain and torturing memories because he’d seen tonight how different she was from the others. Her appearance, her movements, everything was different. Her nature wasn’t about aggression and killing like the others’. Blood for her – and now for Lachlain – was about life.

Her wounds had begun healing immediately when she drank from him. He could sustain her.