The scent of smoke teased Zane’s nose.
She hurried past them, and he caught a whiff of…blood?
Hell of a combination.
“Zane. Shit man, forget about your dick right now, okay?”
He yanked his gaze off the woman’s ass and zeroed his stare back on Tony. “Go home. Leave Dee to me.”
But the cop’s head started shaking, hard. “I’m not abandoning her, I’m not just—”
“You want to be her prey?”
“What? No, she’s not like that!”
“Every vamp is ‘like that’ when they get hungry enough.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You want to find her? Go inside and talk to Pak. You know that guy always has info about this city.”
Tony’s dark stare measured him. “And where the hell are you going?”
He brushed by him. Didn’t meet his stare. “Hunting.”
“Who are you hunting?”
Zane ignored the question and kicked up the stand on his new motorcycle.
“Who are you hunting?”
A flick of his fingers, a press of his foot, and the engine roared to life.
“Not her, you got me? Not. Her!”
The motorcycle shot away from the corner, racing right in front of an old, gray truck.
“Tell me about your change.” They probably didn’t have time for this. She should be getting dressed. Finding weapons. Figuring out what the hell they should do next.
But she needed to know more about Simon. Wanted to know and she didn’t want the blood link to tell her. She wanted him to talk. “Your parents, the vampires attacked them.” Killed them. Just like they’d killed her family. “Is that when you changed? Did they trans—”
He rolled away from her.
A chill rose on her flesh. “Simon?”
He sat on the edge of the bed, giving her a view of his strong, powerful back. “Don’t make me into something I’m not, babe.”
She pulled the covers up to her chest and waited.
“I was already a vampire before my parents were killed. I’d been a vamp for a year before the attack.” He glanced back at her. “You thought I was forced to turn?”
A nod.
His lips twisted. “No. I was one of the ones who chose to change.”
“Why?” The word came out husky, rough. To choose to be a vamp, to drink blood, to kill?
He rose, gave her a fine view of his ass and stalked to the jeans they’d tossed aside at some point. He yanked them up. “I was working in the Middle East. The shittiest and hottest place the world ever forgot.” Simon turned toward her. “One night, my men were ambushed. Cut down in the road by bullets and bombs.”
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.”