One weak moment … could he hurt her so easily?
“You didn’t hurt me,” she told him. “We’ve been over this, remember? You have to want to kill.”
“Right then,” he admitted with total honesty, “I did.”
Her eyes widened. “Me? You wanted to—”
“Sam,” he bit out the name. “You had your teeth on his throat.” The words rumbled from him. “You were going to drink from him.”
Just drink. Not f**k. Why should he be jealous over a blood exchange?
He shouldn’t be, yet he was.
“I wasn’t.” Her voice was soft and still managed to stroke right over his flesh like a caress.
His brows rose. He forced his fingers to unclench. “I saw you. You were at his throat.”
“But I wasn’t going to drink.” Nicole shook her head. “I really wasn’t that hard up. I’m not going to make your friends into meals.” She shrugged. “He was playing some kind of game, and I wanted to figure out why.”
“Sam’s always playing games.”
“He wanted you angry. Jealous.”
“Then he’d be real thrilled right now.” He could almost see the guy’s smirk.
“He told me the trick was control, Keenan. You have to keep your control.”
One slip, yes, he knew what would happen. What he didn’t understand was … “You know what I can do, so why do you still want to be with me?”
She smiled at him and the sight almost broke his heart. “You know what I’ve done, so why do you still want to be with me?”
“Because I’ve wanted you …” Before he’d even really understood what wanting was. He cleared his throat. “Because I want you, everything that you are.”
“And that’s the way I feel about you.” Her fingers slid down his chest. “I just want you.”
“What if …”
She stopped him by leaning forward and kissing his lips. A soft kiss. Gentle. Neither of them had seen a lot of gentleness lately. “I trust you,” she breathed the words against his mouth.
Her trust was precious, he knew that. It was also dangerous.
“I heal faster …” She eased back and glanced at her hands. There was no sign of bruises anymore. “When I drink your blood.”
Angel blood was potent. The most magical to some—and the most deadly to others. Vamps would see a burst in healing from angel blood, while demons who ingested his blood—they’d die.
The Fallen blood had once given rise to the demons, but over time, that blood had diluted. The drugs the demons so often ingested had changed their bodies—time and mutation had done the rest. Now, if the demons took a hit of undiluted angel blood—they didn’t get a healing rush. They only got death.
“When I drink your blood …” Her eyes tracked to just over his shoulder. Her hand lifted, slid down his back, and her fingers seemed to stroke the air. No, she was stroking his wings. “I see things,” she said.
A shudder worked down his body. He felt her touch on wings he no longer had. What the—
Her eyes came back to him. “You’re beautiful, Keenan.”
“Men aren’t beautiful.” If he didn’t have her soon, he’d erupt. “Men aren’t—”
“You’re a lot more than a man.” She turned away and headed up the stairs, her hips rolling and making him want to touch and take. “So much more.” Nicole tossed a teasing glance back over his shoulder. “So come prove it to me.”
Then she laughed, actually laughed, as she ran up the stairs.
Right then, the truth hit him. He knew exactly why he’d fallen, and he knew that if the choice came again, he’d face the fire once more.
For her.
He’d kill and he’d burn for his temptation.
Sam didn’t really know why he’d searched for the woman, but the dancer—Seline—had caught his eye that fiery night at Temptation, and since then she’d kept slipping into his dreams.
Normally, he only dreamed of fire and screams. But lately, he’d begun to dream of a woman who stripped … and stared at him with ice-cold eyes.
Finding her wasn’t very difficult. Most of the girls from Temptation had just bounced right over to Sunrise, another of his clubs, this one in a less desirable part of town. He went in and wondered if he’d find Seline on stage.
She wasn’t on stage—she was waiting tables, and dressed in a slim black, very, very short dress that made him want to lick her.