“And she can summon one of these hounds?” Nicole demanded.
No, I can’t. Could she?
“Yes.”
“Then why are we wasting time?” That southern accent got a little thicker. “Let’s kill her now.”
Oh, no, the chick just hadn’t said that. Bad plan.
“Nicole.” Keenan’s calm voice.
Yeah, that’s right, pull back your guard dog.
“Just touch her, and the threat’s gone.” Nicole was talking fast. Seline really didn’t like this woman. “Sam, why haven’t you killed her yet? If you know she’s this dangerous then why is she still breathing?”
Sam touched Seline’s cheek again. She wanted to flinch away yet couldn’t move. But his touch didn’t kill. Didn’t hurt her at all. “Because I’m addicted,” he said, the words rumbling, low.
Not exactly a giant declaration of love there.
“She doesn’t look like an angel,” Nicole muttered.
If she could have, Seline would have laughed. She knew exactly what she looked like. Sin. She’d been told that often enough over the years—both by lovers who thought they were seducing her and by humans who thought she should be repenting.
“You said she was a succubus.” Now Keenan was talking again. “A succubus can’t control a hound.”
“She’s only half-succubus.” From Sam. His fingers trailed down her throat and rested over the pulse that beat at the base of her neck. “As for her other half, well, there’s no doubt . . .”
“She’s angel,” Keenan said.
And there was the shame she’d tried so hard to hide. Mixed-blood daughter of an angel and the incubus who killed her. Abomination. Living sin.
“She’s crying.” The woman’s voice was soft now.
Seline realized a tear had leaked from her eye.
“I thought you put her under,” Keenan charged, and for the first time, she heard anger vibrate in his voice.
“I did.”
More creaking of floorboards. “She’s hearing everything we say.” Nicole was the one to state the obvious. “And she sure doesn’t like what she hears.”
“She’s fully aware.” Keenan’s voice had taken on a definite edge. “Hellhound callers don’t have to be able to speak to summon their beasts. They’re linked psychically. If she’s screaming for the beast in her mind . . .”
“Then it’ll be at the f**king door,” Sam growled. His hand slid under her hair, and he tilted up her head. “Seline. ”
She felt a push of power, and it was like a curtain lifted from her body. Her eyes opened. She blinked away the teardrops that blurred her vision.
“Tell me you didn’t call the hellhound. Tell me.”
Her right hand curled into a fist. She licked her lips. She could move everything again. So she moved that fist and swung for him.
But he caught her hand before it could hit him. “I gave you one free hit. No more, sweetheart.” He dropped her hand.
Bastard.
Seline leapt from the bed she’d been lying on. She lunged for the door.
Only to find it blocked by a woman with pale skin and black hair. “Not so fast,” Nicole told her, and Seline caught the flash of her fangs.
Vampire.
No wonder the woman had been so quick on the whole kill urge. Vamps were made that way.
Seline squared her shoulders and sucked in a deep breath a she prepared to punch and claw her way past the undead girl. But, before she could attack, Sam grabbed her left hand. Pain stole Seline’s breath as the agony throbbed down from her shoulder. Jeez . . . what had happened to her shoulder?
Sam forced her to face him. “The hound is coming.”
She glared at him, feeling so angry that she expected her skin to start burning. “I trusted you.” She’d been so foolish. “I fought for you!” He’d wanted to kill her.
Silence in the room.
“You’re an ass**le, Sam.” An ass**le who’d—dammit!— broken her heart. She’d actually thought he was different. A man strong enough to stand beside her, no matter what came.
No one else had even come close to hurting her like this. It seemed as if she were splintering apart on the inside. “I didn’t turn on you! I didn’t set you up. I helped you!”
The others—the female vamp and the deadly looking male with the shadow of black wings on his back—weren’t moving.
“I’ve never summoned a hellhound in my life. I didn’t even know they were real until that thing came out and attacked us. Us, okay, not just you. The hound came for me, too!”