Her teeth began to burn as they stretched in her mouth. What would it be like? To have that fresh, wolf blood? Would it truly be as powerful as the Council said?

Jace went for the white wolf’s throat. His powerful jaws caught the flesh, caught, held…

Mike sagged beneath him, the fight gone. Surrender.

Submission.

Jace tossed his head back. His howl fil ed the bar.

Then the black wolf turned and stared at her. His teeth were bloody. His eyes wild.

What have I done?

The Council was wrong. There was no way she’d ever be able to control him. The wolves were running around now, some human, some animal, and it was chaos. Jace transformed as he approached. Fur melted. Bones shifted. By the time he reached for her, he was a man.

Even if his stare was stil the wild gaze of the wolf. He came to her, caught her hand, and said, “Mine.”

She knew that it was too late to run.

***

Mike raced away from the bar even as Jace’s howl fil ed his ears. Bastard. He’d hated that asshole for years and now Jace was pairing up with a vampire?

Another reason to hate the SOB.

Mike had shifted, transforming in order to heal. Jace had sliced him too deep. Even now, the blood spil ed down his neck.

“So sweet…”

The whisper had Mike slowing. His gaze swept the dark shadows. A row of broken buildings waited on the left. Empty. Faded.

His nostrils flared, and he scented… bloodsucker.

Mike slapped a hand over his throat, and he began to back away. Normal y he wouldn’t run from a vamp, but…but he’d already gotten his ass handed to him once tonight. “Stay away from me!” He shouted.

Laughter floated in the air.

“No…” The voice was closer now. “I saw you…I watched it al .”

Mike spun around and came face-to-face with the vamp. Tal , as pale as the woman had been, but muscled.

And the vamp’s fangs were out.

“You were going to kil the female, weren’t you?”

Talk about being screwed. He should have known the bitch hadn’t come in alone.

“No.” He could be honest here. Maybe it would help his cause. “I was going to kil him. ”

More laughter, and then the vampire closed in. Mike didn’t even have a chance to scream.

***

“This is…ah…your place?” Morgan paced in front of the fireplace. “It’s not quite what I was expecting.” Jace pul ed his gaze off her ass. The rush from the shift stil fueled his body. No, not just from the shift. From her.

He had her taste now. Knew the feel of her body. Knew the sound of pleasure on her lips. He wanted more.

“What did you expect?” His voice was rough. Always was. Like sandpaper when hers sounded like silk.

Morgan stopped her pacing. She slanted him a quick glance from beneath lowered lashes.

“A cage?” He tossed out.

Her smal jaw tensed. “And I suppose you never once wondered if I slept in a coffin?”

He laughed. “No, princess, I know better.” She just needed to stay out of sunlight because the light made her weak, almost human. Not because it set her skin on fire.

That was just a Hol ywood myth.

“And I know better, too.” Her voice came even softer than before. She turned to stare at the heavy bookshelves that lined his wal s. “But I did expect pin-up queens and at least one big screen TV.”

Yeah, wel , they were al on the other side of the house. Jace shrugged. Then he took off his t-shirt.

Her gazed immediately dipped to his chest. Her hand lifted and rubbed the curve of her shoulder, the tasty spot he’d sampled less than an hour before. He’d be sampling a whole lot more of her soon.

The fucking princess. He’d asked for her because, hel , yeah, he knew the power that she wielded in her blood. If he got enough of that vampire blood in him, he’d be near invincible.

He wanted that power. Would need it if he was going to stop the demons. But there was…

more.

He’d wanted her. Had, for a very, very long time. The lady didn’t even know how long he’d been watching her.

“I remember the first time I saw you.” He hadn’t meant to say the words, but they broke from him. How many nights had his vampire princess haunted his dreams?

Her eyes widened. “Wh-what?” There it was again. That smal stutter. The hesitation he hadn’t expected from her. He’d thought that the years would have made her harder. Perhaps they hadn’t.

Or perhaps she was just playing him. Time would tel .

“You stopped aging ten years ago.”

A slight inclination of her head. Freshmeat, or at least, that’s what the pack would have cal ed her.

Jace just thought of her as—

Mine.

“We’ve never met.” Now her voice wasn’t so hesitant, but her fingers were stil curled over the mark he’d put on her flesh.

“No, but I’ve watched you.” Before he’d taken over the pack, his job had been to monitor the vampires. To catalog their every move and report back to his alpha. He’d watched and seen a blond beauty gaze up at the sun with tears in her eyes. Her twenty-fifth birthday. The day she’d final y changed.

Lathan, the ex-alpha, had wanted the pureblood taken out. She was supposed to have been a message to the vamps. We’re taking over this town. Time for you to be our bitches. But Jace had seen her stare at that sun, and instead of hurting her, he’d torn his alpha apart.

Wolves couldn’t real y recognize their mates on sight. At least, they weren’t supposed to recognize them.

Mine.

“Jace?” He liked the way she said his name, though he would prefer hearing her scream it in pleasure to whispering it so quietly. Later. “You didn’t answer my question,”

she said with a lift of that stubborn chin.

He might as wel put his cards on the table. In this devil’s bargain, they only had each other. If he couldn’t trust her… then maybe I will be the one to kill her one day.

“A few years back, I was your guard dog.” He used the derogatory term deliberately. A faint furrow appeared between her brows.

“For seven months, I watched you. Day and night.” He’d even seen her drink her first batch of blood—and watched her vomit it out moments later.

She hadn’t wanted to be a monster, but fate had different plans for her. And him.

Morgan’s bedroom eyes widened. “When?”

“Right before your change.” His gaze swept over her. “Right before—”

“Right before you took over the pack,” she finished and her hand dropped. Now he was the one surprised. “Did your research on me, did you?”

“Yes.” Flat. “I know al about you. The lives you’ve taken—the vampires you’ve beheaded.”

Because once, that had been his job. Watch. Hunt. Kill.

Until a vampiress had shed tears of blood at sunset.

Not that he’d exactly become Mr. Nice Guy since that night. He just hadn’t kil ed her.

“You know, and stil you’re ready to fuck me.”

She kept her chin up even as her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “We don’t have to—to fuck for the bonding to take place. You drank from me, now I just need to drink from you.”Jace slowly shook his head as he stalked toward her. “You think you can drink me, and not want sex?” He understood vampires so wel . The reason most of them had stopped taking from live sources was because once they tasted blood

—ah, fresh from the vein—the bloodlust tended to overwhelm them.

Her gaze held his. “I can control myself.”

Interesting. His nostrils flared. She had control, but she was also aroused. From the idea of drinking his blood? Or just, from him?

He’d worried that a vampire female would be repulsed by him. Normal y, they went for class.

Not for a beast that howled at the moon. But this princess, his princess, was something different. He’d known that for years. He’d just had to bide his time and wait for her.

“You might have control,” he al owed, “but we wolves aren’t exactly known for that.”

“No.” Again, not pul ing her punches.

So he wouldn’t either. “And I’ve wanted to fuck you for ten years.”

Her lips parted, and she gave him a glimpse of those little fangs. “You—what?”

Why did he find her fangs sexy? “I don’t care if drinking me spikes your bloodlust. I don’t care how rough you get.” He wasn’t worried about some bruises and scratches when pleasure waited. “I can handle anything you’ve got,” he told her as his hand stroked down her arm. Such smooth, soft skin.

“Don’t be so sure, wolf.”

But he was. “So why are you doing this?” His hand deliberately brushed the side of her breast. Want a taste. “Why throw yourself to the wolves?”

“I’l be saving my people.” Her lips firmed. “Isn’t that enough?”

No.

Her lashes swept down but she didn’t back away as she said, “I mean, that’s why you’re doing it, right? You’re sacrificing yourself—mating to a bloodsucker—in order to save your pack.”

He didn’t speak, but Jace did begin undressing her.

“Wh-what are you—”

Her fast stutter almost made him smile. Would have, if he hadn’t been so hard and hungry for her. He couldn’t even draw in a breath without tasting her.

“It’s time to finish this.” They’d done the public ritual, and now they would bond. He could feel a new power fil ing his body. He’d drank from her only once, and already the change was happening. Soon he’d be infinitely stronger, faster. To stop the demons, he’d have to become more. So would she.

But first, they’d have to fuck.

Her hands caught his, stil ing him.

He stared down at their bodies. She looked so breakable, but wasn’t. Not even close. So why the hel did he feel the need to be gentle with her?

“Don’t worry,” he told her. “I won’t hurt you.”

Her long lashes swept up, and she gazed at him. The gold in her eyes seemed even brighter. “Oh, wolf…” She sighed and then her lips curled in a smile that punched right into his gut. “You’re the one who needs to worry about getting hurt.”

Then her hands were on him, pushing back, and he realized Morgan was very strong. The wolf inside growled.

Her fangs were out, and Jace knew what his lady was going to say even as her lips parted

—

“It’s my turn to bite.”

Chapter Three

They made it to the bedroom. Morgan had a fast impression of heavy furniture, thick curtains, and then—

Silk sheets. Black silk sheets.

The wolf had surprised her again.

She stared at him as the haze of need built within her. She wanted his blood. She needed it. And she wanted him. The lust for him wasn’t unexpected. The guy was freaking sexy. Jace was already naked. His chest flexed and rippled with muscles. His body was perfect. So strong. So dark. So…

Very aroused.

His cock stretched toward her, heavy and thick, and there was no doubt that he wanted her.

Not just a bloodsucker to him.

She ran her tongue over the edge of her fangs. “I need to confess—”

His gaze darkened.

“I, um, don’t have a lot of experience at this.” Most vampires she knew actual y didn’t. He didn’t move. But he did cal , “Bul shit.”

It must have been her boots. She’d thought they looked rather fuck-me. “Bloodlust and physical lust…they can combine too much. We don’t, ah, drink from sources.”

They weren’t supposed to, but the rules were changing.

“I know.”

She felt hunted. The back of her knees hit the bed. “So I don’t drink and—and—”

Fuck.

“With me, you wil .”

His hands sank into her hair and tipped her head back. Then his lips took hers in a kiss that stole her breath even as it heated her blood. The wolf knew how to kiss. Oh, damn, did he. His tongue thrust inside her mouth, and Morgan found her arms rising and wrapping around his line-backer shoulders.

A kiss shouldn’t sweep fire through her whole body, but his did. Her shirt and bra were long gone. His hands slipped down and pushed away her skirt. It slipped over her boots and hit the floor. Then his fingers caught her panties and the rip of fabric fil ed her ears.

Morgan pul ed back. What am I doing?

His glowing eyes stared down at her.

Her thighs hit the mattress, and she fel back onto the bed. She expected him to pounce on her, literal y. Instead, he caught one foot and lifted it up, then slowly, inch by inch, Jace pul ed off her leather boot.

His hands kneaded her flesh. Smoothed over her calf. Slipped up her thigh. Morgan tensed even as her fangs burned.

His hand eased back, and he reached for the other boot.

She couldn’t look away from him. Dark hair. Golden flesh. The boot came off, and his hand smoothed over her skin. He parted her thighs.

“So pretty…”

She was wet for him. Morgan wanted his blood so badly that she trembled and, even more, she wanted that hot, hard body of his against her. In her. He licked his lips.

“Who gets to taste first?”

Damn. She wasn’t supposed to have sex with him. The Council had been adamant about that. Drink him, yes, take his power, give him hers, but sex?

Forbidden.

But the Council wasn’t there, and for once, Morgan was going to take pleasure like other women did.