Hotter After Midnight (Midnight #1)(69)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“Y-yes…I was.” Lull him. Make him think I’m not a threat.

“You saw what I wanted you to see,” he muttered, and his claws scraped against her throat. “You thought you were immune to a demon’s power…but I fooled you…made you see, feel, what I wanted.”

And she’d “seen” a low-level demon. Emily swallowed, feeling the prick of his claws. She should have looked harder, searched his mind.

Too late for regrets. Focus, dammit! I have to give Colin a chance to attack.

Or they were dead.

Colin’s gaze bored into her.

Just how much power did Jake have? There was really only one way to find out.

The last time she’d gone against a high-level demon, she’d wound up unconscious on the floor.

But she’d almost managed to burn out the bastard’s power.

Maybe she could do it again.

Her jaw clenched and she lowered her shields.

The rage hit her first. Blinding. Pulsing. Hate. Fury. The emotions seethed within the demon hybrid behind her.

Then she felt his power. A dark, coiling black force that shot from his body, filled the very air itself and twined around her and Colin.

Level ten. Maybe even stronger. Shit.

“Doctor…” Hot breath on her cheek. “Is that you I feel, tiptoeing in my head?”

A psychic blast of power hit her, shooting pain through every inch of her body. Emily bit her lip, swaying under the impact.

Too strong. I’ll never be able to—

“You have no idea what I can do,” he muttered. “But maybe I should show you.” His head lifted. “Time to play with the wolf.”

The waves of his power shifted for a moment, pulsed darker, then swept completely around Colin.

Shifters are immune to a demon’s power. Colin hadn’t even flinched under the whip of Niol’s dark gifts.

He’d be able to withstand Jake’s magical assault.

Wouldn’t he?

There was so much power.

The wolf inched back a step, tail lowering.

“I can control anyone,” Jake snarled. “Anything. ”

He’d controlled the boy, Bryan Trace. Gotten him to stalk Jake’s victims.

But not Colin, please, not Colin.

Emily frantically tried to pull away from Jake’s mind, tried to reach Colin’s thoughts—

But she couldn’t feel him, couldn’t touch his mind.

“Why?” The word burst from her lips. “Why the hell are you doing this?”

His laughter rumbled against her back. “Because I can.”

Started with that whore Gillian. Bitch thought she could leave me for a human.

Showed her. Showed them both.

Emily tensed as his thoughts slipped through her mind. She couldn’t reach Colin, but she was tuned in as hell to Jake.

Forgotten how good the blood tasted.

Want more.

An image of Darla’s ravaged body flashed through her mind.

More. Tired of hiding, pretending. Fucking humans will fear me now. Show ’em. Show ’em all.

Once the beast got a taste, he couldn’t be stopped.

Suddenly, Jake shoved her forward, right into Colin’s path.

“Here’s the fun part. I’m not gonna kill you, Doctor.”

Why wasn’t Colin attacking him? His claws were down. It’d be the perfect time. Emily glanced frantically between the two of them.

“No, I’m not gonna be the one to rip that pretty throat open. I’m gonna let your lover do it.”

I can control anyone. Anything. Even a shifter. Blood to blood.

Shit. Jake could control his kind—not just demons, but also shifters. The power was always in the blood.

The wolf’s jaws were open, glistening. His eyes bright with blood hunger.

“No.” Not Colin. She had to reach him. Had to help him. “You control the beast,” she whispered, lifting her hand slowly toward him. “He doesn’t control you…”

“No, I control him.”

She reached for her gun, but the holster was empty. Jake must have disarmed her when he’d first grabbed her. Dammit! Colin growled and stalked toward her.

No. Not like this. She wasn’t going to die like this. Not in some dank building, not by her lover’s hand.

Her shields were down, completely gone. And with all of her energy, with every bit of psychic power that she had, Emily focused on reaching Colin’s mind. On getting past the killing fury and touching the man.

No, don’t let him do this to you. To us. Fight him, dammit! You have to be stronger, I need you—

“Ahhh!” Blinding pain exploded in her head, and Emily fell to her knees. Jake’s dark power poured through her, ripping apart her mind, taking her memories, stealing her power—

“Not gonna happen, bitch,” he snarled. “Tonight you die.”

Just like before. The pain was the same. He was forcing his way into her mind, using his magic against her, hurting her.

“Stop!” She pushed the flow of her psychic energy back on him, digging just as hard into his mind as he was hers. She’d burn the bastard out, just like before.

Or she’d f**king die trying.

The images began rolling in front of her mind’s eye. Faster, faster…

“It’s over, Jake…”

A dark alley. A woman in a red dress.

A scream.

The woman dropped to the ground. Throat slashed. Blood all around.

Oh God. The pain was ripping her apart.

A circle of men, all in black, stood glaring next to an abandoned building. “You didn’t tell us he was a shifter,” one snarled, lifting his hand and pointing his finger straight ahead. A snake tattoo bared its fangs on his wrist. “We ain’t f**kin’ with no shifter again—”

A shot rang out. A circle of blood appeared on his chest. Three more shots.

Down, down go the demons.

Emily bit her lip, tasted blood as she fought to force the psychic power back on him.

“What the f**k do you want?” Darla frowned, her brows drawn low. “You know I’m working on the story about—”

Her blood sprayed on the wall behind her.

So much blood.

Emily grabbed her head, screaming. The pain was too much. She couldn’t fight him much longer.

Break, you sonofabitch!

Before she did…

A young boy, with the claws of a wolf and the eyes of a demon. He walked up to an old man, shuffling through the park and pushing a buggy of cans…

The blood sprayed onto the snow-covered ground.

The taste…so good…more