Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(66)

He growled.

“You want me?”

He was on f*cking fire for her.

“I want you. My Aidan. My lover. The man who would take any pain to protect me. The man who loves me more than anyone ever has before.” Her breath shuddered out. “Because that’s the way I love him.”

His chest burned.

“I love him…I love you, good and bad. I don’t care about the darkness that you think is taking you over. I can deal with the dark. I can deal with the light. I can deal with everything…” And another tear leaked down her cheek. “Everything but losing you.” She pressed her mouth to his. Her tongue slipped out, licking along his lips, arousing him even more. “I love you.”

Inside of him, there was pain, so much pain. Tearing him apart. Gutting him. The dark was swallowing him whole and the pain was burning his insides but she…

She was still kissing him.

And his need for her pushed past the pain. Another growl tore from him. He caught her hair in his hand and he pulled back her head, giving him better access to her sweet mouth. His tongue thrust inside. He took and took and…

She gave.

There was such terrible pain but she felt right. Good.

And he wasn’t going to let her go.

***

Annette schooled her expression as she stared at Vincent. “I need to get back to Paris.”

A hard banging seemed to suddenly echo through the building. She jumped and her gaze flew behind her.

The banging—the knocking—came again.

Someone’s here, at the door. Someone wants inside this hell-forsaken club.

“Lena,” Vincent snapped. “See who the hell that is.”

Lena’s eyes closed. “It’s the ME, Heider.”

The woman could see something like that without the aid of a scrying mirror? Annette’s suspicions about just what Lena was deepened…and so did her fear. She licked her lips and said, “Garrison was with him earlier. He must have told Heider we were here. Heider was analyzing Paris’s blood. I’d—I’d better go see what he discovered.” She’d stuttered. Oh, hell. She never stuttered. Mostly because she never allowed herself to feel fear. But the fear racing through her blood wasn’t just for herself.

It was for them all.

Paris.

Garrison.

Aidan.

Jane.

We’ve been tricked. By a creature who is the most skilled at tricks.

She hurried from the room. “I’ll go get Heider.” I’ll give him a message. Get him to run and bring back Vivian. Vivian and the whole freaking pack. Because they were about to enter a blood bath.

They were about to face the true end.

She nearly tripped in her haste to get to that front door. She pulled it open, the rusty hinges groaning, and Heider stood there, his tortoiseshell glasses in place, his hair standing a bit on end as if he’d been running his fingers through it all night. When he saw her, he took a quick step back. “Ah, Annette…” She heard the faint click as he swallowed. “Is, um, is Jane here? I really need to talk to her and Garrison said that—”

She grabbed his shirt front and yanked him close. “Go get Vivian.” Her words were barely a breath of sound.

He stared down at the hand fisting his shirt. “Um, yeah, I need Jane. I have to tell her about the tests I did—”

Footsteps tapped behind her. Vincent was coming close. With his vamp hearing, had he picked up on her words to Heider? “Leave,” she said, her voice even softer. “Run.”

Heider backed up. “Jane’s blood was definitely given to Paris. And when I thought about it, I remembered that I’d had samples at my old lab. I’d taken them from her right before everything pretty much went to hell.”

They were in hell. The guy was not getting the freaking hint and Vincent’s steps were coming ever closer.

“I think someone stole her blood and gave it to Paris.” He nodded, decisively. “They stole it from me and used it against Paris.”

“Don’t worry about Paris.” They had another immediate concern. She could practically feel Vincent behind her.

“Maybe the good doctor could help patch up Drew,” Vincent called out. His voice was mild, friendly. Non-threatening. Clever bastard. “Especially since you’ve said I can’t kill him, Annette.”

She caught the slight widening of Heider’s eyes. Really—was he just now seeing the vamp closing in on them? “Go.” This time, she didn’t speak the words at all. She just mouthed them as she frantically conveyed her message. “Go! Enemy. Get help.”

Heider grabbed his phone from his pocket as he stumbled. “Oh, damn, I have a text from the office.” He backed away, fast and looked down at the phone in his hand. “Another dead body. The dead just don’t stop.” Then he turned on his heel. “I’ll be back with—”

Vincent tried to lunge past her and grab Heider, but Annette twisted her body and she threw herself against him as hard as she could, hoping to catch him by surprise. They slammed down onto the floor together. “Run!” She screamed at Heider but he was already running, not even stopping to look back.

She’d always known the man had a very high sense of self-preservation.

“You bitch,” Vincent snarled.