The sun was stretching higher into the sky with each moment that passed. The weakness hadn’t started.

Yet.

“A few more hours in sunlight,” she muttered as she tried to tug her hand from his. “I don’t want that, okay? I don’t want to fall off the bike. Don’t want to slam into the pavement and have you drag the poor, beaten vampire away.”

“That’s not going to happen.” A pause, then he said, “Trust me.”

She stopped tugging her hand and stared up at him.

“It’s okay to be afraid.”

Good. Because she was shaking in her shoes.

“But my blood is in you now. Werewolf blood is very strong. It’s going to protect you.” He kept staring into her eyes. “Trust me.” Then he pulled her straight into the faint sunlight.

She expected the lethargy, the weakness to hit her.

It didn’t.

“I told you, my blood protects you.”

Her breath caught. The sunlight was warm on her skin, and she didn’t feel the usual weakness. Not even a little.

His gaze seemed to see right into her soul. “You have nothing to fear from me.”

In that instant, standing in the sunlight, strength still coursing through her, she almost believed him. But deep inside, a soft voice whispered…

He lies.

***

“Tell me about the man who took Jane.”

Hannah Wylee frowned across the bar. The place should have been closed. It was long past dawn, and she should be at home, sleeping.

But just as she’d been ready to leave, he’d come in.

Tall. Muscled. With icy eyes that seemed to see right through her.

She didn’t even remember when everyone else had left. Didn’t remember how she’d wound up alone with him in that empty place.

“Jane,” he repeated the name softly. “Where is she?”

Hannah shook her head. “I-I don’t know.” Jane had run off, left without a word. Damn inconvenience. Now she’d have to get another waitress. She’d tried to call Heath and ram into him about Jane. Talk about ungrateful. After all she’d done for the woman. But Heath had been dodging her.

Probably because he knew how pissed she was.

“Someone else was here, someone was after Jane.” His voice seemed to pour into Hannah.

Her brow furrowed. She felt like they’d been talking about Jane for a long time, but she couldn’t be sure.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Hannah,” he murmured. There was no accent in his voice. Just darkness. “But I will, if you don’t tell me what I need to know.”

His words should have terrified her, yet she found there was no room for terror. She felt frozen. No, she was frozen. Hannah couldn’t make herself move.

And he was coming ever closer to her.

He lifted his hand. His fingers curled around her neck. “The last night that Jane was here, what happened?”

“A-a man came in.” She remembered that. That guy had filled the doorway, catching her eyes. Big and rough—scary. “I think Jane ran from him.”

Those fingers tightened on her throat. “What did his eyes look like?”

She frowned, searching her memory. “He…he had on glasses.” Sunglasses, inside the bar. More memories pushed through her mind. “I sent my bouncers after him.” No one messed with her staff.

“What happened to them?”

“The guy took ‘em down.” She’d had to fire them. What good were bouncers who couldn’t control one guy?

His hold was heavy on her throat. “And did he hurt Jane?”

She shook her head, or tried to. “She left. Ran out the front. Alone.” Hannah thought that was the truth. “I haven’t seen her since.”

He stared down at her.

She couldn’t look away from him.

He sighed. “Hannah, I need to know the truth. Don’t worry, it will only hurt for a moment.”

He was beautiful. Gorgeous. The best-looking man she’d ever seen. And something was wrong with her. He’d done something to her, she knew he had. Because she wouldn’t have told him so much about Jane. Wouldn’t have shut herself in there alone with him.

What did he do?

She forced herself to speak. “Wh-what will hurt?”

“This.”

She expected him to strangle her. But his head ducked toward her throat. Something sharp sliced across her jugular.

Hannah didn’t even have the chance to scream.

***

It was cold. The air had grown increasingly chilled as they drove—drove up higher and higher into the mountains.

Alerac had given her a jacket that he’d taken from his saddle-bag. Leather. One that smelled of him. One that made her feel strangely comforted.

Just as he did.

She hadn’t burned in the sunlight.

She hadn’t even felt weak.

His blood? Yes, it had to be.

I drank from him. The knowledge should have horrified her. It didn’t.

Up, up, they went, until it seemed that they were in the very clouds. Dark clouds that threatened a coming storm.

They’d stopped only to refuel. Kept driving and driving. It had been more than just a few hours.

And now…

Heavy gates swung shut behind them. Iron. Clanging closed.

Alerac turned off his motorcycle. “You’re home.”

Home.

She stared up at the heavy structure. This wasn’t what she’d expected. Made of thick, white stones, the massive house seemed to spring right from the mountain. Glass windows looked out into the coming night. Bright lights shone from within.

Her werewolf lived…here?

The cold air chilled her lungs as she moved away from the bike. There were a few other houses, much smaller, nestled along the mountain. Homes for his pack members?

“You’ll be safe here,” he promised her.

She truly wanted to believe him.

But when she looked into his eyes, they were hot and hard. Hungry. For her.

They were on his turf, and he’d already told her exactly what he wanted. The price she had to pay for the safety he provided.

Could she pay that price?

He took her hand. Since she couldn’t very well just stand there in the growing cold, she followed him. The other werewolves dispersed, heading toward the other houses. Then she and Alerac were inside.

The first thing that Jane noticed was the fire. It blazed in a massive fireplace. Her gaze slowly slid away from the flames, and Jane saw a winding staircase that led up to the higher levels of the house. It looked like there were at least two more floors up there.