He groaned her name, fisting one hand in the back of her hair and pulling her down until her mouth was on his. As he sank his tongue into that warm, sweet haven, he tried to convey with a ravaging kiss all the powerful, confusing feelings he couldn’t put into words. And she was right there with him, relaying emotions with her lips and tongue and the salty taste of her tears, making him want to rage against the unfairness of what was coming.

  “I’m going to come in you so fucking hard,” he growled against her lips, needing to imprint himself on her so deeply, she’d never be able to forget him. “You ready?”

  “Yes!” she gasped. “Do it now. I want to feel it again. Want your heat deep inside me.”

  He cursed, completely undone. With both hands firmly gripping her hips, he moved with inhuman speed, pumping up inside her as he came in a heavy stream of blistering pulses that felt so bloody good they nearly destroyed him, the bone-melting pleasure going on and on until he was wrung dry. The end of the world probably wouldn’t have left him so shattered, their heat-glazed bodies twitching with aftershocks of sensation.

  Barely able to move, Nick took her with him as he rolled to his side, loving the way she hitched her leg up over his hip to keep them together. He kept one hand anchored on her ass for that same purpose – and, well, just because he loved gripping it. The woman had an ass that blew his mind, along with all the other mouthwatering parts of her.

  As he licked his lower lip, where he could still taste her blood, her brown eyes smoldered with pride. “Did you like doing that?” she asked, her delicate fingertips tracing the shell of his ear.

  “You know I did,” he rumbled. “If you were mine, I’d be at your vein and buried deep in this hot little body so often you’d probably never even make it out of bed.”

  “Mmm. Sounds nice.”

  With a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, he asked, “Did you know your accent is strongest just after you’ve come?”

  She gave one of those soft, throaty laughs that made him think of sex, though that pretty much applied to everything about her. “Are you serious?”

  “Mmm,” he murmured, squeezing her beautiful ass. When she’d laughed, he’d been able to feel it around his cock, and he wanted to feel it again. “Especially when you’re screaming my name like a banshee.”

  She gave another throaty chuckle as she brushed his damp hair back from his face. “Does it bother you?”

  “Your accent?” he asked, lifting his brows.

  When she nodded, he told her, “Of course not. I think it’s beautiful.”

  “When I first moved out to California, to be close to Ryan,” she said with a quiet laugh that was heavy with sadness, “he’d introduce me as Daisy Duke to everyone.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “He could be such a smartass, but I’m… I’m going to miss the hell out of him,” she finished with a broken sob. And as the dam broke and her tears came in a hot, blinding rush, Nick carefully pulled out of her body. But he didn’t let her go. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and held her hard against his chest, determined to see her through the storm.

  She must have dozed for a bit, because the first thing Lainey realized as she opened her eyes was that the wolves were clawing at the door in a frenzy now, no doubt able to hear or smell what they’d been doing inside the bunker. But she’d been so wrapped up in her wicked-as-sin vampire, she hadn’t even noticed before her crying jag. Make that a sinful, saintly vampire, considering the way he’d held her through her tears. She’d known men who practically ran at the first sign of crying, but Nick had just held her tighter, his lips moving against the top of her head as he murmured comforting words that she’d sensed more than heard.

  Now, she felt him lift his head, and when she realized he was looking at the clock again, she scooted back until she could see his face. “What happens when your brothers get here?”

  “Then you’re safe,” he said, locking his dark-blue gaze with hers.

  “But what happens…with us?”

  His jaw hardened as he rolled to his back, staring up at the ceiling. “There can be no us, Lainey. You know that.”

  She braced herself on an elbow beside him. “Is it just sex then?” she whispered, trying not to let him see how deeply his words had devastated her. “Because it… It felt like more to me.”

  There was a long, pain-filled pause before he finally gave her an answer. “It is more. But that doesn’t give me the right to destroy your life.”

  “Destroy it how?”

  He turned his head to look at her, his deep voice rough with frustration. “Christ, haven’t you been listening to a single word I’ve said? I’m a killer, constantly surrounded by death. Courting it. Hunting it. I’ve taken more lives over the years than you could even begin to imagine.”

  “You’re not telling me anything that I don’t already know. But that’s your job, Nick. It doesn’t define you.”

  “It doesn’t matter how you look at it. I’m not a good man, Lainey.”

  With a frown, she snapped, “That’s such bullshit. There’s a difference between killing something for pleasure and killing it because it needs to be put down.”

  He watched her with a hooded gaze, the barest hint of a smile curving his hard, sensual mouth. “You’re assuming I don’t enjoy it.”

  “I’m sure you enjoy the hunt,” she said quietly, sensing just how closely he was studying her reaction. “The challenge of tracking down your target. But that’s different from enjoying the kill, Nick. It doesn’t make you a monster.”

  For a moment, she thought he was going to make some mocking comment about how blind or naive she was. But when he finally spoke, his low voice held an odd note of wonder in it, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her. “There are many who would disagree with you, Miss Maxwell.”

  “Then they’re idiots,” she said, before giving him a knowing look. “And you don’t really care what they think, do you?”

  Moving in a blur of speed, he rolled her beneath him, his lips brushing against her ear as he whispered, “Just leave it, Lainey. Please. I don’t want to spend the time I have left with you arguing.”

  Tears burned her eyes at the painful reminder that their time together was limited, but she willingly opened her legs to him, letting him press against her, and he groaned so deep she could feel it.

  “I love how fucking warm you are,” he rasped against the sensitive side of her throat. “Can’t get enough of it.”

  “Aren’t female vampires warm?”

  “Not like this. Not like you.” He lifted his head, a strange look in his deep-blue eyes that made her heart hurt. “Unless they embrace true emotion, they remain cold,” he explained. “Both physically and emotionally.”

  “Sounds lonely,” she murmured.

  “It’s just the way we are, Lainey. Very few of us end up like my parents.”

  “Are they happy together?”

  A crooked smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “Ridiculously happy. It’s enough to make you sick if you don’t love them.”

  “That’s sweet.”

  “Yeah, but not as sweet as you,” he groaned, kissing his way down her chest until he reached the sensitive tips of her breasts. Then he kissed his way even lower. He was deliciously ruthless in the pursuit of her orgasms, making her come again and again, until she was boneless and melting with pleasure.

  They made love five more times as the day progressed into late afternoon…and late afternoon slowly turned into evening. Each time, he took her in increasingly revealing positions, pushing her until she’d given him every part of her. Until she was devoid of shyness and insecurities and worries about her figure.

  As the hour grew later, Lainey knew he was keeping a close eye on the clock, but wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. Some kind of sign? Or a specific time?

  Eventually, they pulled themselves from the sex-wrecked bed and took a long, enjoyable shower that consisted of lots of laughter and sensual moans of satisfaction, then threw a quick meal together in the kitchen. But with each minute that passed by, she could feel Nick’s tension mounting, and wished there was something she could do to reassure him.

  The howls of the werewolves were growing steadily louder, the screech of their claws against the door coming more and more frequently. The monsters were becoming restless with the rise of the moon, and she should have been terrified. But it was impossible to feel anything but pleasure when she was in Nick’s arms, their bodies so close Lainey could feel the pounding of his heart against hers.

  “They’re angrier now, aren’t they?” she asked, lying beside him on the bed. “Hungrier?”

  “It’s the moon,” he said in a dark tone.

  She braced herself on an elbow. “Can you feel it? The moon’s pull?”

  Instead of answering her questions, he tangled one of his hands in her hair and yanked her down to him, plunging his tongue into her mouth with a hungry, greedy thrust. He kissed her hard and raw and deep, as if it was the last time he was ever going to taste her mouth and he needed to get his fill of it. Tears sprang to her eyes at the feel of his desperation, and she kissed him back just as greedily, determined to show him that she accepted all of him. Even the parts she didn’t completely understand.

  With another one of those sexy, rumbling growls on his lips, he rolled her to her back, his wicked mouth lowering to her breasts once again. He sucked on her nipples until they were throbbing and achingly tight, then sucked on them some more, each pulling suction of his lips and wicked rasp of his tongue ripping a pleasure-cry from her throat that only made the wolves howl even louder.

  But she didn’t care.

  All that mattered was the man – the vampire – suddenly sinking his fangs into her throat as he shoved himself back into her body, his cock driving impossibly deep as he buried every thick, throbbing inch inside her. She could feel the relentless desperation in his touch as he used his strong hands to grip her hip and the back of her neck, holding her steady for his brutal, pounding rhythm. He ground himself against her at the end of each perfect, devastating stroke, as if trying to imprint the memory of his lovemaking on her body…in her mind. He didn’t stop until she’d shattered in a blinding, screaming orgasm that she was shocked to realize had resulted in her clawing her nails down his back.

  “Nick, I’m so sorry,” she gasped the moment she could find her voice, horrified to have hurt him.

  Pulling his fangs from the side of her throat, he licked the wounds closed and lifted his head, the lazy, sensual smile on his lips making her breath catch. “Don’t be sorry,” he told her, his voice warm and gruff with pleasure. “I loved it. Can’t wait for you to do it again.”

  “I… I didn’t hurt you?” she asked, stealing his question for once.

  He gave a low, deliciously gritty laugh. “I’m a vampire, sweetheart. We sometimes like a bit of pain with our pleasure.”

  Her eyes went wide with surprise. “Oh. I, um…”

  “Don’t you like it when I’m so deep inside you that it hurts a little?” He hadn’t come with her, and he gripped her ass with one of his big hands as he asked the question, holding her in place as he shoved himself into her, thrusting so deep there was a sweet, sharp pain, and her sex spasmed with a shocking jolt of sensation.

  “I see what you mean,” she whispered, but the quiet words were drowned out by his deep, guttural groan, and she loved the feel of his muscles flexing beneath his hot skin as he lost control, his powerful rhythm driving them to a place where the pleasure was so intense, she nearly passed out.

  When the sweat had finally cooled on their skin, he carefully pulled out of her and moved into a sitting position at the side of the bed. “You okay?” he asked, scrubbing his hands down his face, before pushing them back through his hair. Staring at the door, he said, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  He’d voiced that question so many times now, but her answer was always the same. “No, Nick. I’m fine,” she murmured, reaching out to touch the strong, beautiful length of his back. But when he flinched at her touch, a low, animal sound vibrating in his throat, she drew her hand back, knowing something was wrong. “Nick?”

  Without a word, he moved to his feet. Then he grabbed his jeans off the floor and her eyes watered as she watched him hike the well-worn denim up over his hips, the fly still undone as he padded toward the tall cabinet against the wall and keyed in the combination. A second later the door popped open, and Nick reached inside, his broad shoulders making it impossible for her to see what he was searching for. But a chill started to creep its way down her spine. In that moment, Lainey was a thousand times more terrified by what Nick was doing than she was by the monsters trying to break their way into the bunker.

  When he finally pulled something out of the cabinet, then turned around to face her, she knew she’d been right to be afraid.

  He was holding what looked like a wooden stake in his fist, gripping it so tightly his veins were popping up beneath his dark skin. She scrambled to her feet and quickly pulled on the T-shirt he’d given her to wear earlier, never taking her eyes off the stake.

  “What the hell is that?” she wheezed, even though she knew damn well what it was.

  Instead of answering the question, he walked toward her, saying, “Lainey, there’s something that I need you to do for me.”

  Tears burst into her eyes, her voice an emotional croak as she whispered, “What? What is it?”

  He grabbed her wrist and tried to press the stake into her hand. But she refused to hold it.

  “N-Nick?” she stammered, staring up into his beautiful face with blurry eyes that were wide with shock.

  He exhaled a ragged breath, his own eyes burning with a cold, dark fire. “I hate to do this to you, sweetheart. But I need for you to kill me.”

  Chapter 7

  Shaking her head in stunned horror, Lainey couldn’t believe what he’d said. “You what?” she gasped. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  His jaw was like iron. “You heard me.”

  “God, Nick. You must be out of your mind! Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit? Because I think you definitely are!”

  “You’re a human, Lainey. What the hell do you know about it?” he sneered.

  “I know I’m not doing this.”

  “You will.” His low voice shook with his rage. “You’ll do it because it’s our only choice.”

  She was trembling so hard she could barely speak. “N-no freaking way! If you’re too worried to stay in here with m-me, then let’s go out there and fight them together. I can use the gun and you can rip those bastards to shreds.”

  “We can’t,” he argued. “You’d be in too much danger, and I refuse to let that happen.”

  “Then we’ll just keep waiting. It’ll be okay, Nick. We made it through hours of sex and you taking my blood without any incidents, and we’ll make it through this. You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t.”

  “I don’t give a shit what you think you know!” he bellowed. “I’m not fucking risking it!”

  “And I’m not staking you, so forget about it!”

  He took a deep breath, clearly striving for patience. “Lainey, we’re out of bloody time. Since we entered this bunker, I’ve used every second that I wasn’t obsessing about you to try to figure out another way. But there isn’t one. And I can’t do it myself, because vampires can’t commit suicide. It’s part of our survival mechanism.”

  “Well, I’m not doing it either,” she muttered.

  He stepped closer, jamming the stake against her palm again, and this time he closed his fingers around hers as he lifted the tip to his chest. She breathed hard as she struggled to wrench her hand away, but he was holding her too tightly, the look in his dark eyes making her tremble all the way to her soul. “This isn’t a decision you get to make on your own!” she shouted. “That’s not how it works!”

  A muscle started pulsing hard at the side of his jaw. “I knew I would refuse to gamble with your life when you were scarcely more than a beautiful, infuriating stranger to me. So you can bet your sweet little ass that after what happened between us in that bed today, I still refuse to gamble with it. This is the only choice. You are going to drive this damn stake through my heart, Lainey Maxwell, or I’ll never forgive you.”

  She stared up into his furious eyes, barely able to see him through her tears. “No,” she sobbed. “I won’t!”

  “You fucking will!” he roared, the savage force of his anger making her shudder so hard her teeth chattered. “I can feel the moon pulling on me. It’s getting stronger every goddamn second. So stop screwing around and do what needs to be done!”

  “You don’t get to do this!” she screamed, completely losing it as she kept struggling to free her hand from his grip, her other hand curled into a fist that she’d started pounding against his shoulder. “You don’t get to leave me! To just give up on me!”

  “I’m not giving up on you,” he growled, his breathing loud and uneven. “Damn it, woman, I’m trying to save you.”

  “How? By leaving me all alone?”

  “You won’t be alone,” he scraped out, his dark eyes burning with emotion. “Not for long. When I’m dead, my family will be able to…sense it. The connection should be strong enough to lead them to my body, and they’ll find you.”

  “And probably kill me,” she said with a broken, bitter laugh, her fist falling limply to her side as she closed her eyes against the pain of looking at him.

  He leaned down, pressing his warm lips to her forehead as he cradled the back of her head in his free hand. “No, sweetheart. When they see you, they’ll know that I…” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Just trust me when I say that they would never hurt you.”

  She would have asked why he was so sure of that, but it didn’t matter. No way in hell was she doing anything to harm him, and the sooner he could accept it, the better. Opening her tear-drenched eyes, she quietly said, “I’m sorry, Nick. I know you think this is the right thing to do, and that you’re going to be angry with me. But I won’t do it. I…I’d honestly rather die than be the one who takes your life.”