Once Bitten, Twice Burned

“Why am I special?” She hadn’t meant to ask that, had she?

His gaze held her prisoner. “Because I look at you, and I see the one person that I want most in this world.”

Oh, okay, that was not what—

Ryder gave a sharp, negative shake of his head. “It’s more. I look at you, and you remind me . . . you make me long for everything I lost so long ago.”

Her breath whispered out. “What did you lose?”

“Happiness. Hope. Peace.” A muscle jerked along his jaw. “And when I look at you, I see all of those things.”

The vampire had just stunned her.

“So, no,” now his voice roughened. “I wasn’t just going to stand there and let you burn, not when you were begging me to save you. Maybe it’s not the method you had in mind, but the blood exchange was the only option I had available to me.” His shoulders straightened. “And to be damn honest, if I had to do it all over again, I’d still try to change you. If that meant you didn’t burn, I’d do it again.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. He was right. She’d hated the fire. Hated dying, coming back, and not knowing anything.

Except she’d remembered him. Even after all of the flames and death, his image had come to her. Whispered through her mind. Her vampire.

Sexy. Dangerous. So compelling.

Powerful enough to push through the fire.

A vampire.

And I’m one now, too?

“Come to bed with me,” he murmured the words as his head bent and his lips feathered over her cheek. “You’ve been through hell.”

No, to hell.

But he was so tempting. Still naked. All of those rippling muscles. That thick cock. Gorgeous male.

“I can help you when the hunger comes.”

Fucking and feeding. That was what vampires did, right? The pleasure that had rocked through her before suddenly had her feeling shamed.

She’d had no control. Been just like an animal. Biting. Clawing. Would it always be that way? And when she did crave blood, would she be as desperate to satisfy her blood hunger as she’d been when she’d wanted sex with him?

What if she killed someone? Took too much?

“Sabine.”

Her lashes lifted. He stared at her with such care in his eyes.

“I will help you.”

She thought he might be the only one who could. It wasn’t like she had some kind of supernatural Rolodex. He was the strongest paranormal that she knew, and, despite everything . . .

I feel safe with him.

“If you really want to help me”—she drew in a deep breath—“then take me home.”

She had to see her family. Had to make sure that her brother was safe.

But Ryder shook his head, and, with regret pulling at his handsome face, he told her, “I’m sorry, love, but you can’t go home again.”

Her eyes narrowed. The hell I can’t.

And Sabine knew that her time with the sexy vamp had come to an end.

CHAPTER TEN

Getting away from Ryder had been surprisingly easy. The man slept like the dead, literally. When she’d been sure that he was out, Sabine had just slipped away.

Maybe he hadn’t expected her to leave. Maybe he’d thought that she was all after-sex slumberous. Maybe he’d thought she was the kind of girl who’d just turn her back on her family.

He needed to damn well think again.

She’d taken the truck. The one that he’d initially stolen. She’d ditched it at the first truck stop she came to, not wanting anyone to trail it.

She’d hitched a ride with a real sweetheart of a female truck driver. Daisy had been sixty-seven, with a grin as wide as Tennessee, and the woman had sure liked to talk.

She hadn’t noticed that Sabine didn’t exactly talk back much.

Sabine had thought about calling her family. Checking in to let them know that she was alive and semi-well, but when she and Daisy had stopped at an old-school diner, Sabine had glanced up at the TV installed near the counter and seen the news stories about Genesis. Fire had filled the small TV screen. The reporters had been talking about the death toll at the two facilities.

From all appearances, Genesis looked dead, but was it really? Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Especially after the nightmare that she’d been through for the last few weeks.

She hadn’t wanted to make any phone calls. Hadn’t wanted to do anything that might give away her location. She just wanted—home.

When Daisy left her in New Orleans, Sabine inhaled the scent of the river. Home. Finally. Darkness was falling, but the city shone at night. So many voices. Music drifting on the breeze.