Once Bitten, Twice Burned

But then Dante was the one screaming as Ryder sank his teeth into the phoenix’s neck. The two men were about the same size, both big, powerful. Only Dante’s fire couldn’t seem to hurt Ryder, but Ryder’s bite . . . oh yes, it was definitely hurting the phoenix.

Blood streamed down Dante’s neck. It wasn’t a gentle bite. No, it was brutal. Savage. She put her hand to her mouth, horrified. Was this what she’d become? “Ryder . . .” His name broke from her lips.

His head lifted and turned toward her. Blood dripped from his mouth.

Monster.

She knew exactly what she was staring at.

Ryder flinched. He shook his head, as if lost or confused. “Sabine?”

Dante shoved him away. “Fucking experiments.”

Was that all they were?

Dante put a hand to his throat, trying to stop the heavy blood flow. “I’ll kill you both.” A chilling promise.

“No,” Ryder lifted his claws, “but I’m about to kill you.”

“Police! Freeze!” a female voice shouted.

Dante smirked, and he didn’t freeze. “Heard them coming, didn’t you, vamp?” Fire blazed above his fingers. “I heard ’em, too, and thought we could play.”

Sabine spun to face the cops—three of them. Armed and running quickly down the narrow path. “Get back!” Sabine yelled at them.

But the police had seen the blood. They’d seen the fire. They weren’t turning back.

Not even when Dante sent the fire right for them.

Hell. Sabine ran for the cops, moving as fast as she could. They started yelling for her to freeze, but if she stopped, they’d die.

She didn’t stop.

One of them fired at her. She moved faster, faster . . . Another fired.

The bullets missed her because she was moving so fast.

Vampire fast.

Sabine tackled one cop. Felt the heat of flames dance over their bodies.

Ryder hit the others. They went down, hard enough for her to hear the crunch of bones. The cops would all have plenty of bruises, but they’d be alive. The flames had passed over their bodies.

Sabine grabbed the gun that the cop had been shooting at her with and tucked it into her waistband. “You’re welcome,” she muttered. The guy started to fight. Sabine bit her lip. She didn’t want to do this, but there wasn’t much choice.

She slammed his head into the cement.

His eyes rolled back, and he stopped fighting.

“Don’t worry, love, he’s not dead.”

She hoped not. She’d been trying to save the guy.

She just hadn’t wanted to keep fighting him.

Ryder snagged her hand. “Come on. Dante’s already gone.”

Not surprising. Only smoke and fire were left in his wake. But the cops would have called for backup, and Sabine didn’t exactly want to be huddled over those limp human bodies when said backup came rushing to the scene.

She let Ryder pull her to her feet. But then she took the lead. This was her city, after all. She led him through the twisting maze of streets and nook-tight corners that most wouldn’t know about. When they finally spilled out onto Bourbon Street, blending with the crowd was instant and far too easy.

Ryder kept a hand curled around her waist, as if he was afraid that she was about to cut and run. She had no plans to do that. Yet.

She needed to figure out just what the hell was going on.

But getting a nice, alone-time spot for a chat wasn’t gonna happen right then.

Sabine turned and wrapped her arms around Ryder. He stiffened for an instant, but then immediately pulled her closer as they pushed toward the outside of a bar. His hands curled around her waist. Seemed to brand her.

Sabine breathed slowly, too aware of him then. And, um, yes, the guy was aware of her, too. She could feel that awareness pushing against her and getting larger by the moment. She wet her lips, not in preparation for a kiss, really, and leaned up on her toes to ask, “Were we followed?”

Ryder gave a small negative shake of his head.

That was something.

“I have to get to the hospital. I need to see about Rhett.”

“Every time you get close to him, you just put him at risk.” His mouth was inches from hers. To others, they’d look like embracing lovers.

Isn’t that what we are?

“You shouldn’t have come back here,” he said, voice and eyes hardening. “I told you to stay away. You’re not the same any longer. Your family . . .” His jaw locked. “I’m sorry, but they aren’t safe with you around them.”