Once Bitten, Twice Burned

“This doesn’t concern you,” the stranger snarled. “She’s not even your real sister.”

Rhett’s jaw locked. Normally, he was the easygoing southern boy. A faint drawl would whisper in his words, just enough of a slow tease to make all his girlfriends smile. He had bright blond hair, a golden tan, and dimples that flashed.

No dimples were flashing.

He lifted his bat. He’d been the reason she’d been such a good player. The guy had been the one to teach her everything she knew about swinging a bat. “The hell she isn’t.” His hands had a white-knuckled grip around that bat. Oh, she knew he was about to take a swing. What would happen when he did? “And you made a f**king mistake,” Rhett snarled the words right back at the man shielding Sabine, “by trying to take her away from me.”

The stranger lifted his hands. Sabine grabbed his shoulder. “Don’t hurt him!” She was so afraid fire would appear before his fingers. She didn’t want her brother burned.

“He’s not going to hurt me, Sabe,” Rhett promised. “But I’m going to kick the shit out of him.”

The man before her laughed. Then he lunged forward. Sabine screamed. Rhett swung. The bat hit hard, probably harder than the stranger expected because he stumbled back.

Rhett hadn’t been the home-run king for nothing.

Rhett grabbed her hand and yanked her to his side. His buddies closed in as Vaughn lifted his gun. “Asshole, you better freeze,” he barked. “Because I’m NOPD.”

New Orleans Police Department? Since when? And when did a cop go out on the streets with men who were armed with bats and broken bottles?

The stranger’s head lifted. His eyes weren’t so dark now. They were starting to flame. “Freezing isn’t something I’ve ever been able to do,” he said. “But burning . . . that’s a whole different matter.”

“What the hell?” came the stunned question from Douglas. The redhead was shaking. Yeah, probably realizing that broken whiskey bottle wasn’t going to do him much good. “He’s a para!” Wait, what? Was that the new lingo for a paranormal?

Douglas had always been a lingo guy. He thought it made him seem cool.

He didn’t exactly look cool then. Sabine pushed toward them.

Douglas was shaking harder by the second. Maybe because the stranger’s eyes were burning brighter by the second.

“Run,” Sabine whispered.

No one moved.

“Run!” she yelled. Sabine shoved Douglas. But the guy just shook his head and stood his ground.

“No one’s hurting my sister,” Rhett said. The leader of the pack. Always. His bat had a long crack in it. His fingers tightened around the base. “So you come at me again if you want. I don’t care what the hell you are. No one hurts my sister and walks away.”

The man’s eyes were glowing bright. “I’m not the one you have to punish. Save that for her vampire.”

How did he know about Ryder?

“He’s coming,” the man said, a faint smile curling his mouth. “Coming in so fast. He won’t give her up. What will you do then? Kill him?”

Her breath had stilled in her chest. The guy was wrong. Had to be. She’d ditched Ryder.

But Ryder knew she was from New Orleans. She glanced over her shoulder. Didn’t see anything but the end of the alley and the crowd filling the main street.

“Maybe you’ll come to wish that she was dead.” Those words had her head snapping back toward the stranger. “Before it’s all over.”

“And maybe you’ll wish that you’d never set foot in our town.” This growl erupted from Vaughn. His handsome face was tight with fury.

“I’m the least of your worries.” The man’s burning gaze touched on Sabine. “But I will see you again.”

“Not if you want to keep those eyes in your head, you won’t,” Rhett blasted.

The stranger just smirked. Then he said, “You should duck now.”

What?

He lifted his hand and a ball of fire rushed in the air, heading right toward them.

Vaughn pulled the trigger on his gun.

Rhett’s fingers locked around Sabine.

They all ducked.

And as the fire blazed, the stranger with the burning eyes slipped away, leaving behind a trail of smoke and drops of blood on the ground.

No one spoke. No one tried to go after the guy. They waited until the flames started to die away, then Rhett demanded, “Who the hell was that?”

Sabine could only shake her head. They were all rising, all looking around carefully. A crowd of spectators had come their way, drawn, no doubt, by the smell of smoke and the crackle of flames.