King of the Asheville Coven (Winterset Coven #1)(3)

Suddenly, the woman gasped, her back arching against the asphalt, and instinctively Aric cradled her shoulders. It was then that he smelled it through the fog of blood. Fur.

Her eyes opened, and Aric had to force himself not to blast backward in defense. Her irises were a blazing gold, becoming brighter and brighter as her pupils constricted and focused on him.

No, no, no, there were no shifters in Winterset. There weren’t! He had checked, and no crews were registered to this area, so why the f*ck was he here, in the dead of night, hugging an obvious apex predator shifter to his chest?

She panted too fast, too shallow. She was going to pass out soon. At the sound of Chief Lang’s boots approaching behind Aric, her eyes widened with fear.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Please what?” Aric asked.

“Please don’t tell them what I am.” A long, soft breath escaped her lips, and then her eyes rolled closed as she went limp again.

Stunned, Aric dragged his gaze down the curves of her body, then back up to her face.

She hadn’t come up as registered because she wasn’t.

This shifter was rogue, and she’d just asked him to cover for her.





Chapter Two


Sadey Lowen winced at the soreness in her body. She peeked her eyes open and grimaced at the brightness of the fluorescent lighting and, for a moment, couldn’t figure out where she was. A high-pitched beep, beep prickled her oversensitive ears. One look at the monitors she was hooked up to, and she panicked. What was she doing in a hospital room?

“You don’t want to report her because she’s human, just like you,” a low timbre said.

Sadey jerked her attention to the window dividing her room from a sterile looking hallway. Right outside stood a man who brought everything crashing back to her. The truck that had chased her down and driven her off the road, the fear, the pain, and then waking up to that man hugging her. She wouldn’t have known he was supernatural, but his eyes had changed color right in front of her, from a soft gray hue to demon-black in an instant. He wasn’t a shifter; she hadn’t smelled fur or feathers on him, but once he’d opened his mouth to speak, his canine teeth removed any further doubt of what he was. They were too sharp, and long. A vampire.

She should’ve been terrified of him because she knew the terrible strength and heartlessness vamps were capable of. But in a panic not to be found out, she’d pleaded for his help instead.

Propped up on the bed, she canted her head and studied him as he talked low to a nurse outside her room. He struck a handsome profile, with eyebrows the same chestnut color as his mussed, stylish hair. His jaw was clean-shaven and chiseled, and his lips too sensual for his own damn good. His nose was straight and strong, his neck thick and muscular. His defined pecs pressed attractively against the thin material of a navy T-shirt, and she could just make out his arms as he rested his hands on his hips in what looked like an irritated gesture. Tattoos stretched from below his short sleeve to his elbow, all black ink in swirling symbols she couldn’t quiet decipher, but that wasn’t what tripped up her gaze. On his forearm, there was a perfect line that divided the pale skin of his upper arm from the red, raw skin that covered his elbow down. Vampires healed as fast as shifters, but this injury looked as if he’d had to regrow the skin that had been fileted off. Maybe he’d exposed it to sunlight or something.

She swallowed hard at how painful that must’ve been, and then a wave of guilt washed over her because perhaps it was a new burn, and maybe he’d gotten that saving her tonight.

The nurse walked in, followed by the vamp, who crossed his arms and stood against the wall. He avoided Sadey’s gaze. Even from all the way over here, she could feel the heavy power he emanated. There was no doubt in her mind he could off her in an instant. Maybe that’s why he was here. Vamps liked drinking shifters. Rumor had it she tasted better to the undead. Maybe he was here to make a meal of her when she was released.

The nurse, Jody, her nametag read, had a strange, vacant look on her face when she bent over and took Sadey’s vitals. “I’m not going to report you because you are a human,” she said in a monotone voice.

“O-okay,” Sadey said. “That’s right. I’m a human.” What in heavens was happening right now? Obviously she wasn’t a damned human. Her wounds were already healed.

“I think she’s fine to release,” the man in the corner said. “Don’t you, Jody?”

“Release forms,” the woman said vacantly. Her pupils were blown out so completely, Sadey couldn’t even guess what color her real eyes were. The nurse opened her mouth and froze, lips parted, eyes dead for the span of three breaths before she blinked slowly and said, “You’ll need release forms, and then you are free to go. I’ll have to take you out in a wheelchair because of hospital policy.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the vamp murmured soothingly.

“That won’t be necessary,” Jody repeated.

What in the actual hell? Dread blasted through Sadey’s veins. He wasn’t just a vamp. He was one of the powerful, gifted ones everyone was afraid of, and for good reason. This monster had mind control.

Shit, shit, double shit. Sadey pulled out the IV someone very determined must’ve shoved into her arm. They’d wound surgical tape around her arm at least a dozen times to keep her body from rejecting the needle. She had to get out of here.