No.
Her cheeks grew even paler.
But it was best that she go ahead and understand this now. An infection? Not for her. “You’re gonna change. By the time the full moon rises, you’ll be a vampire.”
“I can stop it! Elsa said there was a cure, I can—”
“There is no stopping it for you. Elsa just set you up to die.”
She flinched at his words. Right. The truth could hurt, huh? Better to shatter all her illusions now. “There’s no cure. There’s not a damn thing you can do to stop the change.”
Her body trembled.
“You will be a vampire.” His hand lifted, and traced the thick scar that circled his neck. A scar that he’d received when he’d been too young to readily pull forth the full wolf within. “And then…”
“Then?” Allison whispered.
“Then you’ll go for the throat of any ass**le dumb enough to get near you.”
“You—you…hate vampires.” Her eyes had fallen to the hand that slid across his scar.
He stared at her, caught by her words. “Yeah, I f**king do.” Fury broke beneath the words. He hated those parasites and wanted them all in the ground—so why was he standing there, talking to her, wanting her?
Offering to protect her?
Cade spun away. “Stay the night. You’ll be safe here.” He’d know if anyone tried to sneak onto his land.
“Thank you.” Her whisper followed him.
Cade glanced back. She’d wrapped her arms around her stomach. She stared after him, looking lost.
Fuck.
“Don’t thank me,” he growled. Don’t thank me because you don’t know what I’m going to do yet. You don’t know what I want.
Soon enough, she would.
***
It was the same nightmare she always had. Allison knew it was a nightmare, but she still couldn’t wake up. Her parents were dead around her, their blood staining the white carpet a dark red. Her neck hurt, and she could feel the wetness sliding down her skin.
Her blood.
“We’ll be seeing you again…” The vampire told her, smiling with a flash of his blood-stained teeth. “Grow up for us, get strong…we’ll be seeing you again.”
Because she was one of them. Just like them. She’d kill, torture, listen to her prey scream—
“Wake up, Allison.” Hands were wrapped around her arms, shaking her not-so-gently. “Dammit, wake up!”
Her eyes flew open, and she found Cade crouched over her. She almost screamed again.
Just in time, she managed to stop herself. “I—is something wrong?” Her heart thudded in her chest and her voice came out far too husky.
She was in the bed. His bed. He’d taken the couch and offered his room to her.
A nice gesture for a killer.
“You were screaming.”
And now she was awake, in bed, mostly naked, with a bare-chested werewolf crouching over her. “Bad dream,” she managed.
Cade grunted. Was that supposed to be a sympathy sound? He stared to pull away.
She grabbed his hand.
They both froze then. Suddenly, the air seemed very, very thick. And he seemed even…bigger than before.
“You want to let me go,” he said the words softly, but she heard the order in them.
She didn’t let him go. “You’re not the hard-ass you want me to believe you are.” Hard-ass killers didn’t comfort you when you had a nightmare. Hard-ass killers didn’t give you their beds. They didn’t—
One second. That was all it took. He had her flat on her back as his body crushed hers into the mattress. His lips were on hers, not soft and gentle—wild, hard, rough.
He didn’t kiss like a new lover. He kissed like a man taking what he wanted.
Me.
She couldn’t pull away. His hold was too strong. But—
But she didn’t want to pull away. Allison let her lips part even more, and she kissed him back, loving the hot surge that heated her veins. She’d been alone and afraid for so long and now—I want him.
His mouth jerked away from hers. “What the hell are you doing?”
She licked her lips. Tasted him. Wild. “Kissing you?” Sure, she might not be the most experienced chick in the world but she did have some skills.
“Why?”
Uh, shouldn’t that be—
“Do you like to play with fire? I want you…” His voice had roughened, deepened so that it sounded like the rumble from a beast, “and werewolves aren’t exactly known for their control.”
Her hand rose and traced one of the twisting scars that crossed his chest.
Cade’s muscles stiffened at her touch. “You don’t want to—” His words broke off as his head jerked to the right. She saw the slight flaring of his nostrils as he scented the air.
“Cade?”
He didn’t look at her. Just stared toward the dark window. “Company.”
Cade leapt out of the bed and raced for the door. Allison grabbed for her clothes and yanked them on as she stumbled after him.
Then she heard the growl of motors approaching. At least two. Oh, crap, this wasn’t good.
She grabbed Cade’s arm. “Wait!”
He spun to face her.
“You don’t know what’s out there—”
“Two trucks. Seven dumbass humans. I can smell ‘em.” He inhaled and offered a grim smile. “And those humans are about to get an ass beating.”
Okay, so he did know.
Cade stalked outside. He was still bare-chested, and the guy didn’t even look for a weapon to take with him. She didn’t know much about werewolves, but no way were they indestructible.
Allison rushed after him, yanking down her shirt. The trucks had just braked to a halt, and dirt danced in the air around them.
Cade stopped on the small porch, braced his legs apart and kept his arms loose at his sides. “Griggs!” He called out. “You dumb bastard, you don’t want to get in this battle.”
Griggs? The guy from Blood Bath? Like she’d be forgetting him anytime soon.
The truck door opened, and sure enough, Griggs poked his shaved head out. “For enough money, I’d gut my own mother.”
Lovely.
The men climbed out of the trucks. Cade had been right about their “company” after all.
“The money’s real good,” Griggs continued as he began to edge toward them. Oh, damn, was that a wooden stake in his hand? “Too good to pass up. Not my fault if you went all pu**y weak.”