Dee didn’t move. Couldn’t.

“They died around me, their screams in my ears.” His fingers brushed over his stomach. “I bled out on the ground. My leg was shot to hell. My chest torn open. Every breath I took tasted of fire, and I knew, I knew I’d wouldn’t make it off that road.”

“But you did.”

His eyes darkened to black. “A man came out of the rubble. He walked straight to me. Asked me if I wanted to live or die.”

He’d chosen to live, as a vampire. Her lips parted.

“I heard the thump of a helicopter’s blades then. Whirring in the air. They were coming to help us, but I was the only man still living.”

So he could have made it without the change? He could have kept being human?

“I knew about the Other.” He swallowed. “I’d been to so many places, seen things people wanted to pretend didn’t exist. War brings out the monsters, Dee. It brings them out like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’d believe almost anything.” Sad and true.

“I knew looking up at him—I could see his fangs, see his eyes changing. I knew what he was, and I knew I wanted to be like him.”

She sucked in a sharp breath.

“The medics could have tried patching me up. Could have saved my ass—and maybe, maybe I would have pulled through. But my job was to fight. I had to be strong. He could make me strong. Stronger than I’d ever been, and I’d never have to worry about choking on my own blood as bullets and hellfire took me down on a dirty road ever again.”

No, he’d just have to worry about getting his head chopped off and having a wooden stake driven through his beating heart.

“You don’t understand, do you?” His voice was grim. “Vampires are always young, always strong. That’s a deal a man dying on a battlefield isn’t gonna refuse. I wanted the bite. I would have done just about anything to keep living right then.”

“But the helicopter—”

“I wanted the bite,” he said again. “I wanted forever.” His shoulders lifted, fell. “I’m not gonna lie to you. Not gonna say the change was forced on me. I chose.”

“And would you choose the same thing now?”

His lips thinned. “Would you?”

“I didn’t choose this, I didn’t want—”

“Getting out is easy, Dee. Bleed out. Let the fire take you. Every single moment you live, you’re choosing.”

She knew he was right. She was choosing this life because for her, there was no alternative. “I’m not killing myself. That’s not me.” Too easy. Fight. Survive. Pak had taught her that. You survived, no matter what. You lived.

“It’s not me, either.” Soft. “I didn’t know—didn’t understand about the Borns when I was brought over. After the exchange, I woke up, strong, thirsty, so thirsty, and I didn’t even feel the Born’s power at first.”

Ah, key phrase there. At first.

“Then the prick started trying to worm his way into my mind.” His chin lifted. “That link gets weaker the farther you are from the Born, so my tactic was to stay as far away from Grim as I could.”

Her fingers knotted around the sheets. “Guess that tactic didn’t work so well, huh?”

“He knew what I was doing. Sometimes, it seems like Grim knows everything.” He exhaled heavily. “To teach me a lesson, he went after my family. They didn’t know. They had no idea what I’d become and when the vampires came for them…” He shuddered. “They suffered. Grim and Leo made sure of it. All so they could bring ‘my ass in line.’”

She flinched.

“I buried them, and I heard Grim’s call in my head every fucking second.” He unballed his fists, stared down at his palms. “He wanted me to come to him. Wanted me to kill. Wanted me to be part of his twisted vampire family.”

“The alpha,” she managed. “Controlling his pack.” And sensing a challenge from within. “What did you do?”

He glanced at her. “Made a deal with the devil.”

That didn’t sound good. Dee rose, fumbled with her clothes, and managed to dress.

The silence in the room thickened.

She shoved on her shoes.

Simon just stood there, bare feet, bare chest. Watching her.

Dressed, armored, she finally asked, “What kind of deal?” No, not for me. Don’t tell me that you’re—

“I found a warlock in Vegas. Asshole named Skye. He has magic—dark magic—and he used it on me, for a price.”

Dee licked her lips. His gaze darted to her mouth. “What price?”

“I bled for him. Thirty days straight. Skye drained me nearly to death before each sunrise.”

“Simon!” Blood loss like that—

“In return, he put a spell shield in place for me. One strong enough to weaken Grim’s call. Not block it completely, but to mute it so I could turn away from the Born.” He stalked toward her. Lifted his hand and ran his fingers down her cheek. “And find you.”

Her fingers lifted and curled around his wrist. “Why didn’t you tell me all this at the beginning?”

“Because you would have run from me. No.” A slow shake of his head. “You would have tried to kill me, and I needed you too much to have you turn away. You’re my shot at freedom, Dee. Real freedom. This shield won’t last forever. I’ll be lucky if it lasts a few more months. Grim’s too strong to keep out. I know it. Skye knows it. Grim knows it.” His eyes blazed darkness as he told her, “I don’t want to become what he’ll make me.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “You won’t.” He wasn’t like the others. He’d fought too hard. Held on to his sanity by going right into the darkness.

“Over the years, there have been others who were changed and didn’t become—” His lips flattened. “Vamps don’t have to be killing machines. It’s the Borns, they’re in control. The Taken just dance like puppets on freaking strings. The Borns who have been tainted by the power—”

Or curse, depending on who you asked.

“—they’re the ones who want the blood on the streets.”

“Is that what Grim wants?”

A bitter laugh. “Grim wants the world. And if he can, he’ll take it.”

Not while she was around. “He’ll keep coming for me, won’t he?” Keep attacking those she cared for, just as he’d attacked Simon’s family.

“It’s his way. He separates his prey. Makes you suffer, tries to break you.”

His flesh was warm against her. “I don’t break easily.” Never had. Never would.

“No, you don’t.” He leaned down, brushed his lips over hers. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”

Whoa, now, what was that—

“Dee, I know this thing between us—shit, I know I wasn’t honest with you at the start, but you and me, what we’ve got between us, it’s real.”

“It’s lust,” she told him, fighting to keep her voice even. Couldn’t be more.

“It’s that.” One brow rose. “But if it was just me wanting to fuck you, things wouldn’t be so damn complicated.”

Ah, okay.

“We want the same thing, Dee. We want to stop Grim.”

A nod.

“Partners?”

She’d need him. No doubt. But when hell came calling, would she be able to trust him in those last minutes? Or would Grim take control?

His lips thinned at her hesitation. “When you drink from me, what happens?”

Pleasure. Need. Fire. Dee swallowed. “I get stronger.” The revulsion wasn’t there. Not with him. It had never been there with him.

“No.” He stepped back from her, putting a few feet between their bodies. “What do you see?”

Her breath caught.

“I thought so. You see my life, don’t you? Flashes?”

“Yes.” She knew that wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure, vampires could use their power to look into the mind of prey, but she hadn’t been focusing, hadn’t been trying, hadn’t even wanted to see—

“You saw with Leo, didn’t you?”

“I saw him kill his wife.”

Simon blinked.

“I saw that asshole Grim, standing over them, laughing.” She’d seen Leo cry. If he’d been enjoying the kill, he wouldn’t have shed a tear. Maybe, back then, he’d still had a conscience. A soul.

But no control.

“Borns don’t have to focus their power to steal memories.”

Steal memories. Not her plan.

“They have to focus not to do it. Their psychic power is so strong, the images come automatically.”

Well, damn. She’d been afraid of that. “You don’t have to try and convince me anymore.” Time for her own honesty. She crossed her arms. “I know what I’ve become.”

“Knowing and accepting are two different things, babe.”

Hit. They were and she was a long way from accepting her new “life.” “We’ll hunt him together,” she told him, straightening her spine. “But if I think you’re turning on me…”

He marched to the bag she’d thrown to the floor last night. Pulled a stake out. “You’ll shove this into my heart?”

Her gaze fell to the stake.

No. Not that easy. Not anymore.

Because the vampire had gotten to her. Made her care. Made her feel.

He tossed the stake into the air, then caught it easily with his left hand. “I’ll prove that you can count on me. Trust me.”

Maybe. If only she could.

She turned away from him, unnerved by his stare.

“Dee?”

She didn’t glance back because she was too worried about what he’d see in her gaze.

“I’ll take the lust. I’ll take anything you can give me.” His fingers brushed her shoulders. He’d moved fast and soundlessly. She should have heard him, with her enhanced hearing, she should have—

“And one day, I’ll take everything.” His breath blew over her nape. “Just like you’ll take everything I have.”

Dee shivered.

His mouth closed over her skin.

She leaned back against him, strength and power, surrounding her, seducing her.

Someone rapped against their door. Her nose twitched.

Timing, timing, timing. “Catalina, chill, all right? I’ll be down in five.” No way was she leaving right then. No, she wanted a moment, okay, more than a moment, to just stay in the quiet and pretend the big, bad eternal monster wasn’t after her.

To pretend that she was just an ordinary woman wrapped in her lover’s arms.

“That’s not Catalina.”

Dee’s nostrils twitched. She smelled Catalina’s scent. The light mix of incense and roses. She turned in his arms. “Yeah, it is—”

The door flew open and the light scent vanished. A spell? A trick? What—

“Oh, hell,” she whispered.

Zane Wynter stood in the doorway, filling the frame, and his eyes glittered demon black.

Her time had run out. She knew he’d come for her. Come to keep the promise he’d given a year ago.

Zane had come to kill her.

Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t ready to die yet.

Chapter 12

“Zane, no!” Dee’s cry echoed in Simon’s ears. Fear. Fury. So the demon had tracked them? Big damn deal. He’d never been afraid of a demon, and he sure wasn’t about to start fearing one now.

Zane’s gaze scanned over them. Froze on the stake that Simon still gripped in his hands. “Were you planning to take her out, too?”

What? His brow furrowed and then the words registered. No, one word. Too. “The fuck you say.” He shoved Dee fully behind him. No way was a demon coming after his woman with death in his eyes.

“It’s what she wants.” The demon crossed the threshold. Strolled in and swung a blue bag from his shoulders. He shoved his hand inside the unzipped top and drew out a stake of his own. “What she’s always wanted.”

“You’re not touching her.” Killing the demon would be easy.

The only problem? He didn’t want to rip the man’s heart out, not in front of Dee. This demon had been her friend once.

A friend who was about to kill her.

“I won’t hide from him,” Dee said and her voice was clear. Strong. She stepped to Simon’s side, her chin up, her head back. The charred ends of her hair had vanished while she slept. Her blond mane was tousled around her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips bright red.

Sexy. The woman always looked so sexy to him.

“Dee.” The demon’s eyes swept her body once more. “You’re looking good for a dead woman.”

She shrugged.

“I take it that this asshole is the one who changed you?” Rage slipped past the ice in Zane’s voice. Cracked through.

“No.” Her hand brushed over Simon’s arm. “He’s the one who saved my life. More than once.”

A sad shake of Zane’s head. “So you’ve already gone to his side, huh, Dee? Already forsaken—”

“I’m Born.”

The guy’s eyes bulged. “Bullshit.”

“It’s the reason my parents were killed. The reason the vamps came after me again and again. I’m Born and I’m going to take out the bastard—Grim—who is on my tail.”