“Dunstan said that he didn’t know where you were.” He raked a hand through his tousled hair. “He lied. It was his ship that took you across the ocean. Your blood that I’d found still staining the floor of the vessel.”

Nausea rolled in her stomach.

“He deserved exactly what he got.” There was no remorse from Alerac. “They all did.”

She shouldn’t ask. She shouldn’t, but she did. “How many?”

He stared back at her.

“How many vampires have you killed?”

Then he smiled at her. Lifted his hand. Stroked her cheek. “My Jane…I stopped counting long ago.”

She knocked his hand away. Shoved him away. She’d thought that she could trust him. That he could help her.

But he was just as much of a monster as the creatures that had come after her. Killing. Not caring. Again and again.

“Jane.” Anger beat in her name as he squared off against her. “You don’t know what they did—”

She locked her arms around her body. Escape. It was all she could think of. “How long until you drink from me?” He’d said that her blood addicted him. That she was the one he truly wanted.

Now, too late, she realized it wasn’t about physical love. Or even some kind of emotional attachment that had linked him to her across time. To him, her blood was power.

And he wanted as much power as he could get.

“I could have taken your blood when I took your body.” Cold words. Brutal words.

True words.

“I didn’t,” he said.

No, he hadn’t, but she remembered a moment when his teeth had edged over the curve of her shoulder. When she’d felt just a flash of pain.

Then he’d pulled back.

“You wanted to,” she whispered.

One dark brow rose. “Are you going to pretend that you didn’t want to taste me? Because I’ll know that you’re lying. I saw your fangs.”

Fangs that were emerging, even then. She clamped her lips closed, horrified.

“It’s what we are,” he said simply, shrugging. “When we fight and when we f**k, the bloodlust rises within us.”

She didn’t want bloodlust. She just wanted—

I don’t know! But it isn’t this!

“We can’t fight nature.”

She wanted to try. “You found me in Florida. Then you brought me here…because my blood makes you stronger?”

His eyelids flickered. “I brought you here to keep you safe.”

She knew he was lying to her. Jane shook her head. “Try again.”

Before he could speak, she heard someone calling his name. Then Liam was shoving open the bedroom door. The werewolf glanced at her—a fast sweep with his eyes that took in her sheet-clad body—then focused completely on Alerac. “We have company.”

The way he said it, Jane knew he wasn’t talking about the good kind of guest.

Alerac spun toward him.

“Ryan,” Liam said flatly. “He must have heard that we have her.”

Alerac marched for the door.

“Wait!” She hurried after him.

Alerac didn’t slow.

So she grabbed him and made him stop. “Who is Ryan?”

Jane didn’t like the look that Liam and Alerac shared.

“Who is Ryan?” Jane repeated.

“A vampire.” It was Liam who spoke. “A very powerful, very angry vampire.”

Great. “Someone else who wants me dead?” Maybe they should just make a line.

Alerac glanced down at her hand as it curled around his arm. “I have a…truce…of sorts with Ryan.”

“A truce that will be ending,” Liam muttered. “You know it’s gonna be over.”

Alerac nodded. “I will speak with him. Have the guards escort him to cabin on the ridge. I’ll meet him there.”

So he was just waltzing off to meet this Ryan guy? “I want to come with you.”

“No.” An immediate and hard denial. “If he sees you…” Alerac exhaled. “I’ll have an even worse battle on my hands.”

“Is he the one who has been trying to kill me?” The vampire who’d sent men after her? Twice?

“Lorcan has been hunting you. As for Ryan, I’ll find out exactly what he wants.” His focus shifted briefly to Jane’s face. “He won’t be a threat to you.”

That wasn’t the answer she’d wanted.

But it appeared to be all that she was getting.

Alerac left her, with Liam following right on his heels behind him. There were murmurs in the hallway. Jane put her ear to the door and heard—Alerac was putting guards on her! Men to make sure that she didn’t leave the bedroom.

What. The. Hell.

She started searching for clothes. She yanked open the closet. She’d take something of Alerac’s and make an outfit. Just like on that fashion show she liked to watch.

Except she didn’t have to make anything work.

Because one side of that massive closet contained clothes. Women’s clothes.

“What’s happening?” Did the werewolf have another lover? Lovers? Her eyes narrowed as she yanked some clothes from the hangers. She jerked them on.

A perfect fit.

She glanced into the long mirror that waited at the end of the closet.

The shirt that she’d grabbed was the same blue as her eyes. The jeans hugged her hips and curled over her legs.

She found shoes next—shoes that were the exact size that she wore.

The tightness in Jane’s gut grew worse.

Whirling, she rushed from the closet.

She didn’t waste time heading for the door and the guards out there. Instead, Jane hurried toward the big window that looked out over the mountains. She put her hands on the window pane and stared down.

Alerac and Liam were walking beneath her. The glow from the moon illuminated them.

They’re going to meet the one called Ryan.

A vampire.

Alerac killed vampires.

He can’t kill this one. Because something had happened when Alerac mentioned Ryan’s name.

An image had flashed in her mind. An image of a tall man, with pale skin and blond hair.

And her eyes.

She wanted to see this man—this vampire.

She wanted to make sure that he stayed alive.

Jane waited. Watched until Alerac vanished down a snaking path that led into the woods.