“Someone’s already dirtied my pretty,” he murmured.
“Fuck you!” she spat.
Cruel laughter sounded in her ear before he spun her around and she found herself gazing into the reddest, most sadistic eyes she’d ever seen.
“Fuck me?” Raul drawled as he gripped her upper arms.
“Yes,” she said with far more bravado than she felt, considering she was the mouse in the path of the cobra, but this mouse wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Fuckyou!”
She jammed the rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger. The force of the shot and her awkward grip on the gun knocked the gun from her hands and caused them to go numb. The top of Raul’s head exploded outward in a shower of gore. Mollie almost threw up when bits and pieces of him rained down over the two of them.
Despite the shocked expression in his rolling eyes and the spasmodic twitching of his body, Raul didn’t release her. His jaw clicked as the bullet had torn away a good portion of the muscles in his chin and throat.
“Bi… bi… bi… bi…”
Mollie realized he was trying to get the word bitch out, but like a buffering video, he couldn’t move on from where he was stuck. Then his eyes fastened on her neck, and she knew that though he couldn’t speak, he could still drain her dry. And her blood would help him heal faster.
“No!” she yelled.
Mollie battered at him with her numbed hands, but they slapped uselessly against his chest as his jaw continued making that ghastly clicking sound. Lifting her foot, she attempted to drive her knee into his groin, but he evaded her blow and yanked her forward. She’d blasted a good portion of his brains out, yet she was helpless to stop him from sinking his fangs into her neck.
Her scream caught in her throat and strangled there as his first slurp of her blood made it feel like someone was taking a razor to her flesh and slicing away her skin piece by piece. She no longer had any concerns over her hands being numb as fire licked over the tips of her fingers, spread through her hands, and coursed up her arms.
What had been so magnificent with Mike was excruciating with this monster. The more Mollie tried to resist, the more she became certain the pain would drive her insane. She swore cracks erupted to race over her bones before they started to shatter, yet somehow her skeleton kept her upright in his grasp. The blood rushing through her ears became a bellow she couldn’t drown out.
* * *
The foul-tasting bloodfrom the Savage Doug was fighting flooded his system. Typically, he would have gone out of his way to avoid feeding on one of them, but when he’d crawled inside to discover Doug and the Savage battling each other at the bottom of the stairs, he hadn’t hesitated before sinking his fangs into the vamp’s ankle.
Surprised by the unexpected attack, the Savage reeled back and punched Mike’s cheek, but the blow didn’t knock him aside. Each swallow of blood made his stomach turn, but it also filled his body with strength and returned feeling to his feet. His back wasn’t broken, since even with the Savage’s blood, it wouldn’t heal this fast if it were.
Doug plunged his fist into the Savage’s chest to tear out his heart when Mike released his bite on the creature. A gunshot reverberated from above as Mike climbed to his feet.
“Mollie,” he breathed.
She wouldn’t be able to hold out long against Raul, but she was putting up a fight. He didn’t look at Doug before racing up the stairs to the lighthouse tower. Leaping off the top step, he almost skidded to a stop when he saw the thing clinging to Mollie. The top of its head was gone, leaving only broken bits of gore behind, yet it was still moving…
StillfeedingonMollie!
Mike roared as he ran at them. Snaking his arm around Raul’s back, he smashed the vamp’s chin up with his hand to knock Raul’s fangs free of Mollie’s neck. Raul sputtered as he stumbled back into Mike’s chest. Gripping his shirt, Mike lifted Raul before hammering him into the ground.
Mike caught only a glimpse of the full damage Mollie had inflicted on Raul before he drove his fist into Raul’s face. Raul’s eyes rolled in different directions as bone gave way beneath the blow, and Mike pulled back his fist to batter him again.
Even when his knuckles broke and nothing but pulverized flesh and bone lay beneath him, Mike didn’t cease pummeling him. He couldn’t stop because he couldn’t get the image of this bastard feeding onhismate out of his head. He’d touched her, and he would pay for it.
Red filled Mike’s vision until everything he saw became shaded in the color. Adrenaline and something more coursed through his system as his fangs extended. Death and blood became all he could taste and smell andfeel; it was all he craved until it pulsed through his body with each beat of his heart.
“Mike. Stop.” The soft voice barely penetrated the rage driving him as he battered Raul’s face into what could only be considered mush. “Mike, stop. Please.”
His knuckles hit wood with the next blow, and a hand fell on his shoulder. Recoiling from the touch, he spun on whoever dared to touch him. Mollie released a small squeak as she threw her hands up and stumbled away from him. The pallor of her face, her quivering lower lip, and the terror in her eyes finally pierced through the all-consuming bloodlust.
Mollie didn’t dare move as Mike’s red eyes remained pinned on her. She’d seen enough wildlife videos to know movement only triggered an attack from hunters, but her heart beat so fast, she was sure it bruised her ribcage. She didn’t think he’d attack her, but the man facing her was not the Mike she’d come to know so well.
She saw little of the man she loved in the vampire gazing at her like he wanted to devour her.
Mike struggled to leash the part of him clamoring to drag her beneath him and turn her.Make her immortal!Saliva filled his mouth as he recalled how amazing she tasted and how powerful her blood was.
“Mike,” she whispered. She was frightened of him, but she was more afraid that what faced her was what he’d remain.
