Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(63)

Lena offered Annette a faint smile. Then she turned away.

Power seemed to pulse in the air behind her as she left them.

“You need to call Police Captain Vivian Harris!” Annette shouted after her. “Drew should be in her custody! She can help us!”

Another growl built from Paris’s throat. Annette looked back at him. His eyes were darkening with emotion.

With…bloodlust.

“Here we go again,” Annette whispered and she felt her heart break a bit more.





Chapter Fifteen


Aidan’s claws slid over her cheek, his touch as soft as a whisper, not so much as scratching her skin.

Jane’s breath eased out on a ragged sigh. “I’m afraid.”

His nostrils flared. “I can smell your fear.” He smiled at her as his claws slid down her neck. “I like that scent.”

She caught his hand, held tight. “No, you don’t. You hate it when I’m afraid.”

Aidan just stared down at her. Such a cold, empty stare.

“You love me,” she told him. “You don’t ever want me to be afraid.”

His brow furrowed.

“I know you’re in there.” Jane tightened her grip on him. “And I’m going to get you out. I’m—”

He lifted her up and they seemed to fly across the club. In the next instant, she was sitting on the bar, and he was standing between her legs. He’d grabbed her wrists, and he’d pinned them to the bar top, one on either side of her body.

Jane stared at him and remembered him making love to her. Right there.

But when he looked back at her, his gaze was that of a hunter, one who was about to devour his prey.

“Aidan…” Jane began.

And he bit her. He moved so fast that she didn’t realize his intent, not until it was too late. Jane had still thought that she could reach him. But he sank his fangs into her throat and the white-hot sting of his bite stole her breath. He drank from her, seeming to glory in her taste. Because this was Aidan—her Aidan—her body responded to him. Her breasts ached, her sex yearned.

He licked her neck. “I like that.” His voice rasped against her. “I’ll take more.” His fangs raked over her skin.

“Stop!” She yanked her wrists from his grasp and slammed her hands against his chest.

His head lifted.

“Aidan…” Chill bumps were on her arms. “Say my name.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Say my name,” Jane ordered again, frantic, desperate. Because he was gazing at her as if she were a stranger and that scared her most of all. Whatever was happening inside of him, Jane needed Aidan to remember her. To remember them. To remember what they were to each other. “Do you even know who I am?”

His fangs flashed. “Yes.” A hiss. “I know…you’re mine.” His head came back toward her, lowering over her neck.

He was going to bite her again.

“No!”

Jane shoved him, hard. Hard enough that he stumbled back and slammed into a nearby table. Her breath sawed out of her lungs as she jumped off the bar. “Aidan.” Now she snapped out his name. “Aidan, get your shit together and get it together now. Because this isn’t you.”

He’d shattered the table and fallen to the floor. He glared up at her, snarling, and he shot to his feet. He swiped out at her with his claws, but Jane jumped back, dodging the attack.

“What are you doing?” Jane yelled at him. “Don’t make me hurt you.” That wasn’t what she wanted. She never wanted to hurt Aidan. She loved him too much.

That love was why she was standing there right then, why she was so desperate to reach him. To get past the darkness and find her lover.

“Hurt me?” He laughed, and it was a guttural, brutal sound. Not Aidan’s laugh. “Come try.” He opened his arms to her, spreading them wide. “Nothing can hurt me. No one. I’m a f*cking alpha.”

Her chin notched up as she began to circle him.

“I like the way you smell.” He turned, keeping his gaze on her as she moved around the bar. “Like the way you taste even better.”

“Aidan, stop this.” Because the tension was getting worse. She could feel it thickening in the room. He was going to attack, she knew it. And when he did… “I don’t want to lose us.”

He smiled at her, flashing fangs. “I think I’ll like the way you f*ck, too.”

He is a stranger. Where is my Aidan? “Trust me, you love the way I f*ck.” She grabbed one of the broken chair legs. Held it tight. “But that’s because you love me, and you need to remember that, right now. Because if you do anything to me…oh, Aidan, it will destroy you once you get past this darkness. The guilt will eat you alive.” She knew it. “I matter too much to you.”

He leapt at her. Jane hit out, swinging with the chair leg, but he just ripped it from her hand. He shattered that wood with a careless grip, then he was holding her, shoving her back against the wall and caging her with his body. “I don’t think…” he whispered. “You matter much at all.”

Pain knifed through her. White-hot agony because it was a blow straight to her heart. “No, you remember me…somewhere inside, I know you do. You remember everything. You said I was yours…because you know I am. Just as you’re mine. You came to Hell’s Gate because this place is your haven. You came here because you wanted to be safe. You—”