“Believe me, luv, I know that. You wouldn’t kill a human unless it was by accident or they were wearing a Vampire Henchman badge. You didn’t seem to know Stephanie had any such connections-and from the look of scene, I’d reckoned you were wrestling for the gun when it went off. She probably had a good grip on it, too. From the smell of her, she’d been hyped up on vampire blood. Would have made her quite a bit physically stronger and she’d need that, for what her job was.”
So that explained why she’d had the strength of a linebacker in her petite feminine frame. I’d underestimated her all the way around.
“Why haven’t you told me about all of this before? You trained me to fight, and then you kept me out of the real battle.”
He answered while still out of eyesight. “I didn’t want you involved. Blimey, I’d just as soon you not risk your life going after vampires to begin with, but that’s what you want to do, so I trained you to be better at it. Not like you’d listen to me if I told you to stay home, is it? Still, Hennessey and his blokes are different. Your part with them was supposed to end after Sergio, but your little physics chit ruined that tonight. You should be patting yourself on the back for killing her. Those other ‘potentials’ certainly would, if they knew what she’d had in store for them.”
“Was safety your only reason for keeping this from me, or is there more I don’t know about?”
There was the sound of water being poured. “No, there’s one more reason I kept it from you. I didn’t want to give you another reason to hate vampires. It’s not like you aren’t already predisposed to it. You tend to judge people for what they are, rather than what they do, if they don’t have a pulse.”
I was silent for a moment, because I had no defense to that. No truthful one, anyway.
“You should know something, Bones. I lied to you when we made our deal. I was going to kill you the first chance I got.”
I heard a dry chuckle. “I already knew that, luv.”
“About Hennessey…I want to help. I have to help. My God, I was almost one of those girls who never would have been heard from again! I know it’s dangerous, but if you find out where this Club Flame is, if you get a lead, I want to be there. Hennessey has to be stopped.”
Bones didn’t reply.
“I mean it,” I persisted. “Come on, I’m the perfect wolf in sheep’s clothing! Really, do you know any other half-breed girls living in an area that’s currently being harvested? You’re not talking me out of this!”
“I can see that. Here.” He returned with a bowl of water and a cloth, setting it near me and then handing me one of his shirts. “You’ve got blood on the front of you. If you go home like that, you’ll scare your mum into thinking you’ve been hurt.”
I looked down at myself. The red smear of Stephanie’s blood stained my stomach in a wide circle. In yet another example of my prejudice, even though I didn’t mind killing her so much anymore, I snatched my blouse off and immediately began to scrub my skin.
It was only after I cleaned the last of the blood from me that I felt the weight of his stare. When I looked up, his eyes were fixed on me and laced with green.
“Hey.” I slid back a few inches on the couch. “Dinner’s not served. Don’t go all glowy at the blood.”
“Do you think blood has anything to do with the way I’m looking at you now?”
His voice had a strange timbre to it. Thick with things unspoken.
I struggled not to show any reaction, but my heart had just sped up, and it wasn’t from fear. “Green eyes, fangs peeking out…pretty incriminating, I’d say.”
“Indeed?” He sat down, moving the bowl aside. “It seems I’ve neglected to inform you of what else draws such a reaction, but I’ll give you a hint-it isn’t blood.”
Oh. I drew in a breath. “Considering last weekend, I don’t have anything you haven’t seen before, and I doubt you’re overcome with desire by seeing me in my bra.”
“Kitten, look at me,” he said flatly.
I blinked. “I am.”
“No, you’re not.” He slid closer, his eyes all green now. “You stare straight through me as if I’m not even there. You look at me…and you don’t see a man. You see a vampire, and therefore accord me less substance. One of the few exceptions was last weekend. I held you and kissed you, watched your eyes light up with desire, and knew for once you were truly seeing me for all I was. Not just a non-beating heart with a shell around it. I dare you to look at me that way again, now, with no excuse of chemicals to fall back on. I want you.” A slight smile twisted his lips as he made the blunt statement. “I’ve wanted you from the moment we met, and if you think sitting next to me in your bra doesn’t overwhelm me with desire, you’re very wrong. I just don’t force myself where I’m not invited.”
For a few stunned seconds, I was speechless. So much had happened tonight, my brain was having a hard time sorting through it all. I looked at Bones and it was almost as if scales dropped from my eyes, because suddenly I did see him. Those high cheekbones, dark brows framing eyes turned to emerald, a curving mouth, straight nose, and etched jawline. Crystal skin stretched over those features and tightly wrapped around a lean, rippled frame. His elegant hands and their long, tapered fingers. My God, he was beautiful. Absolutely, incredibly beautiful, and now that I’d finally allowed myself to notice, I couldn’t stop staring.
“Kiss me.”
The words left me without any thought, and I realized I’d secretly wanted to say them for a while. Bones leaned over and his lips closed over mine softly. Gently. Giving me every opportunity to change my mind and push him away, but I didn’t. I slid my arms around his neck and brought him closer.
He ran his tongue along my lips until I opened my mouth. His touched mine for a moment before retreating, teasingly, back into his mouth. Another flickering touch and back again, and again. Coaxing me, persuading me. Finally I traced my tongue into his mouth, feeling the answering rub and then the unbelievable sensuality of him sucking on it.
I moaned, unable to help it. The graze of his incisors should have bothered me, but they didn’t. They didn’t seem to hinder him, either, because he kissed me with the same passion he had last weekend. My senses ignited, and I maneuvered my hand from his neck and brought it to his shirt. One by one, I undid his buttons. When it hung open, I ran my palms along his bare skin and, oh God, it did feel as incredible as it looked. Like silk stretched over steel. Bones reached behind him and flicked the collar off his shoulders. The whole garment fell onto the floor. All the while he kept kissing me until my breath came in gasps.
With a mind of their own my hands traveled from his chest across his back, fingers feeling out the ridges and muscle. His flesh vibrated with power, making me feel like I stroked lightning encased in skin. Bones groaned low in his throat as I touched him, sliding closer until our bodies were pressed together.
His lips trailed down to my neck, finding my pulse unerringly. He drew it into his mouth, manipulating my vulnerable artery with his tongue and lips. It was the most dangerous position to be in with a vampire, but I wasn’t afraid. Instead, the feel of him sucking on my neck aroused me unbelievably. The waves of heat sweeping through me had me quivering.
His lips came up to my ear, and he licked the shell before whispering into it.
“I want you so much. Tell me you want me. Say yes.”
To deny that I wanted him would be an obvious lie. Just one thing held me back, and it was the memory of Danny.
“Bones…I didn’t like it before. I think…something’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you, and if you change your mind or say stop, no matter when, I’ll stop. You can trust me, Kitten. Say yes. Say yes…”
Bones swooped his mouth onto mine and ravaged the inside with such hunger that I sagged against him. His arm supported me, and I tore away long enough to speak one word.