How could she?
When he left her, he promised to return in a day or two, but those days had come and gone.Henever would have remained faithful to someone who did the same to him, but he hadn’t expected the same from her. He’d believed her to be different than himself and the other women he’d been with; she washis, and she’d already moved on to a man she despised.
Wait. That made no sense. ShehatedMalakai. A lot could change in two weeks, but he didn’t see her going from hating to screwing this man in such a short period. Although, he’d fucked more than a few women he despised.
Still, Lexi wasn’t like him, and he couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right here. With a control he hadn’t believed he still retained, he pushed aside some of the red haze clouding his vision. He didn’t want to see them locked in their passionate embrace again, but he did.
And as his breath thundered like a bull about to charge, he took in more details of their embrace. When he did, things beyond the knife twisting in his heart sank in.
Lexi’s body bowed toward Malakai in a way that indicated she craved more. Cole’s teeth ground together as he recalled how wonderful it felt to have her lithe body melding against his, but…
Thiswasn’tmelding.
She was as rigid as a board against Malakai. Her wrists, bound by Malakai’s hand, were pressed against the wall, and her fingers were hooked into claws.
Blood spilled from the corners of Malakai’s mouth a second before he reeled back from her. Blood flowed from both their mouths, and Cole realized she’d bitten him when she spit a gob of blood into his face.
“You bitch!” Malakai spat.
Lexi jerked and somehow lifted a knee to slam it into the vamp’s stomach. Air exploded from Malakai as she tried to twist away.
“Let go of me!” she screamed.
Cole was shifting as he ran toward them, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop Malakai from pulling his head back and smashing his forehead off her face. Lexi cried out as blood poured from her nose.
A roar built within Cole, but he didn’t release it. He couldn’t alert Malakai he was coming. That roar built to a crescendo as Malakai released her wrists and hit her. Lexi’s head bounced off the wall as more of her blood spilled free.
Chapter Five
It tookeverything Lexi had to keep herself from passing out. If she did… well, she couldn’t think about what would happen if she did.
Still, she felt like she was trying to claw her way out of quicksand as her knees gave out. Malakai’s thigh between her legs was the only thing keeping her up. She blinked away the stars erupting before her eyes, and her head fell back.
No!
Her hands moved like someone had tied concrete blocks to them, but she somehow got her palms up between them. With a strength she hadn’t known she still possessed, she drove her palm up and under Malakai’s chin. His head snapped back as his fist flew.
Lexi braced herself for another blow as the whistle of his hand cutting through the air came at her. She didn’t think she’d remain standing after this punch as her head still rang from the last blow and blood dripped off her chin.
She clawed at his neck and twisted her head away as Malakai was ripped off her. Lexi staggered forward and nearly went down. She threw herself back against the wall as a flash of black soared past her.
Without Malakai to keep her propped up, Lexi hit the ground. But she refused to stay down; it could mean death, or worse, if she did.
She rested her hand against the wall and rose. Dizziness assailed her, and she almost fell again, but she refused to give in to the weakness consuming her.
Instead, she slumped against the wall as a massive wolf landed a few feet away from her. With its jaws locked around Malakai’s abdomen, the vampire dangled from the wolf’s mouth. Its head and body were the size of a lion’s—an extremely large, extremely powerful lion. Its paws were the size of her head, and its claws could eviscerate a T. rex.
Malakai beat against the wolf’s head as it opened its mouth and bit down again. Malakai’s shrieks were like toothpicks to her eardrums. Blood spurted from his mouth as the wolf shook its head back and forth, turning Malakai into nothing more than a rag doll.
Normally, such a thing would have appalled her, but though she didn’t enjoy Malakai’s pain, it didn’t upset her either. He would have raped her and maybe killed her; he deserved to be eaten.
When the wolf opened its mouth to chomp down again, Malakai vanished as he transported out of the wolf’s hold. Lexi’s eyes darted around the barn in search of him, but he didn’t materialize anywhere nearby.
She squeezed her eyes shut when her vision blurred but almost immediately opened them again.Is he going to return?
But as the seconds stretched on, and he still didn’t reemerge, she slid down the wall. Once on the ground, the thundering in her head became louder as her attention shifted to the wolf.
Its head moved around as it searched the barn. The blood dripping from its muzzle reminded her that it hadn’t gotten the chance to eat, and she might be next.
