The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(30)

Power.

She realized that he hadn’t spoken.

Her gaze darted to him. “Duncan?”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

Uh, oh. All of the moisture seemed to dry up in her mouth.

“I wanted to take you.” He backed up another step. “Consider yourself warned.”

Crap.

He turned away from her. “At least you know how to stop me now.”

He’d really been ordering her to stop him. Ordering…or begging? The words had been so rough. Had the man been fighting the beast? Trying to hang on? She reached out for him.

But he stepped farther away.

“No touching,” he growled. “When I touch you, I want.”

The blood link that she’d created? Or something more? Vampires were addictive to their prey, but she didn’t just want to be some addiction to him.

I love you.

She wanted to be something more.

“Let’s do this.” He headed toward the mouth of the alley.

“Wait!”

He stiffened but didn’t glance back. She forced herself away from the bricks. “Let me take off your collar.” Pate had wanted him to keep wearing it. Because Pate didn’t trust Duncan’s animal instincts.

“That’s not a good idea,” Duncan said.

“You’re not going to attack any human, you’re not—”

“I almost attacked you right then. And with the full moon coming…” She saw his hands clench. “It’s a risk I can’t take.”

Because of his family. She knew what had happened to them. The slaughter by werewolves that had left a five-year-old boy covered in blood and orphaned in the world.

He’d learned monsters were real at such an early age. Too early.

She hadn’t learned that lesson until she’d stepped into Pate’s world.

“I keep the collar.” It rode low on his neck. “And you keep the remote.” His head turned and his gaze met hers once more. “And if I ever go for your throat or your heart and you can’t pull me back with a vampire compulsion, you don’t f*cking hesitate to burn me.”

She could only stare at him in shock.

“Promise me,” he demanded.

She nodded, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Because she didn’t want to lie to him.

Then they were heading toward the bar. Toward the laughter and the noise on the wrong side of the city. A battle waited for them, and this time, she would fight.

And not be the same victim that she’d been a year ago.

Because just a few blocks away, well, Holly had died in a spot there. In a pool of blood. With a vampire standing over her and with her brother screaming her name.

***

The bar reeked of blood and death. Humans were inside, dancing, seemingly oblivious to the smell.

But Duncan wasn’t human, not anymore. His nostrils widened as he pulled in the heavy scent that came primarily from the door on the far left. The door marked Private.

The door was guarded by two men he pegged instantly as werewolves.

“What’s happening in that room?” Holly whispered from beside him as her fingers curled around his arm.

He tried not to stiffen at her touch. He was too aware of her. Of every single thing that she did. Vampires were addictive, that was the spiel, right? Maybe that was why he had a constant hard-on and all he could think about was plunging into her again.

Mission. Focus on the mission. He didn’t even know what in the hell had happened in that alley. One minute, he’d been trying to get her to use a compulsion on him. Going out on a mission without even a test run—what had Pate been thinking? And then in the next instant, he’d just wanted to mark her. To let any other wolf know that Holly belonged to him.

Because other werewolves would want her. Especially once they got a whiff of her scent.

The old stories humans told about vampires and werewolves being enemies…those stories were wrong. Vampires and werewolves were often drawn together. One’s strength was another’s weakness. Together they were damn near unstoppable. So, hell, yes, another werewolf would want her.

He wasn’t going to let anyone have her.

A blonde woman, laughing, drunk, was led to the Private door. The werewolves moved out of her way. Staggering a bit, she headed into the “Private” area. Her escort—a redhead with piercings circling his left ear—left her quickly.

The door closed behind her. The werewolves resumed their guarding position.

Duncan’s eyes narrowed. The redhead started scanning the room once more. Looking for new prey.

“We need to get in that room,” Duncan said.

“I figured that would be your answer.” She sighed, then said, “All that blood…the humans they take in, they don’t come back out, do they?”

No.

She pulled her hand away from him. “I’ll get in. If Saul is down there—”

“He is.”

“Then I’ll get him to come back out.”

Before he could stop her, she was sauntering across the room. The jeans she wore clung to her ass, and his gaze sure wasn’t the only one to notice just how good she looked.

The redhead’s stare locked on her.

He smiled.

Touch her, and I’ll break every bone you have.