Page 17 of Taste of His Skin

Vampires are fast. So are shifters, but our advantage with speed is when we have four legs. Vamps move so quickly on two-legs, it’s like they’re flying. The icy aura becomes a full-blown gust of wind a split second before a single blur, followed by a pair, comes racing out of Muncie.

The lead blur slams into the shifter, sending him flying through the air. Before he even lands, Aleks materializes, hissing at the shifter behind me at the same time as he lashes his hand around my wrist.

In his surprise, the bastard at my back lets go of me. Aleks yanks me away from him, shoving me behind him, all before a loud thud echoes as the big shifter finally hits the ground a good ten feet away.

At the same time, the other two blurs catch up. Flanking Aleks, I recognize Dominic Le Croix. Next to him is a youngish-looking vamp with dark hair and a fierce expression.

The second the brute slams into the dirt, two of the wolves circling us lose their nerve and simply take off. With a point, Aleks spits an order out in French. Dominic tears off after the two wolves, the dark-haired vampire chasing him.

That leaves me and Aleks facing off against the three remaining.

Before, only two of the shifters had gone from fur to skin. Of the three that stayed shifted, two bolted as soon as the vampires appeared while the third joins his buddies in his two-legged form.

Big mistake, buddy. Freakinghuge.

Now, I’ve seen Aleks fight a shifter in his wolf form not too long after he’d been shot. It was a massacre. I’ve seen what he can do to an Alpha, though my eyes were closed when he destroyed Jack Walker. I heard it, though, and saw the aftermath. There was nothing but bloody hunks of meat left when he was done. A fellow vamp? When pushed, Aleks popped Hector’s head off of his neck like it was a dandelion being yanked off a stem.

Three deltas wearing nothing but their skin? Leaving their bellies vulnerable for a raging vampire’s teeth and claws?

Three of his own people attacked Aleks and he walked away from it. If I hadn’t known about that assassination attempt, I might’ve been worried. Now? He doesn’t need my help, and when Aleks tells me to run back toward Muncie before launching himself at the biggest shifter, I say a wordless prayer to the Luna and watch with wild eyes as he rips them all apart.

They don’t just stand there and take it, of course. A few seconds into the fight, the third shifter reverts back to his wolf, using his fangs to take a bite out of Aleks’s side. I gasp, but my vampire doesn’t falter. Ripping the wolf from his skin, he easily snaps the beast’s neck before grabbing another shifter, tearing out his throat.

Blood flies. So does fur and skin and bits of Aleks’s clothing. I get slapped in the face by something hot and squishy. Bile rises up in my throat and I force it down, wiping my cheek with the back of my hand.

If Aleks can take out these shifters for threatening me, the least I can do is bear witness to it.

The biggest shifter takes the longest to die, but Aleks is determined. Either that or he left him for last because he was the asshole who was going to be the one who killed me. Whatever his reason, Aleks goes after him only after the other two are dead, but like the others, he’s no match for my vampire.

When he’s done, he glances up from the mess he made, staring across the open road, eyes searching me out.

I gulp, but don’t move an inch otherwise.

Ah, Luna. He isfurious.

Vampires are the undead. Unless they’ve recently fed, they’re chilled to the touch; even if they’re full of blood, their auras are always icy. It’s just part of their type of supe. But Aleks? The rage pouring off of his hunched body blasts me with heat even from this distance.

His chest is heaving. Beneath his shredded and claw-torn sweater, I can see the frantic rise and fall as he sucks in an unnecessary breath. His hands are fisted at his side, slick with blood, and his dampened curls are plastered to his forehead. He hasn’t retracted his fangs yet, either. He looks every inch the killer that he is, and considering how bad I’ve fucked up, I shouldn’t find that as sexy as I do.

His blood-red eyes are locked on me. He doesn’t blink, and I’m helpless to break the stare.

Luna, I love this male. He came for me. He protected me. And, in doing so, probably just declared war.

All I can do is let out the softest, “I’m so sorry,” in a shaky voice.

CHAPTER8

BLOOD EXCHANGE

My shaky apology breaks the spell between us.

Kicking the nearest shifter body fifteen feet away with the force of his kick, Aleks zooms toward me. He’s standing inches away before the thud of the corpse hits the dirt again.

“Sorry?” he rasps out. “What do you have to be sorry for, Elizabeth?”

He can’t honestly be asking me that. With three bodies strewn around us, the ground turned muddy with spilled blood, it’s pretty obvious why I’m apologizing to him. All of this… and what’s going to happen next… it’s my fault.

But from the fierce look on his blood-spattered face, I know that Aleks is expecting an explanation. Worse, he’sdemandingone.

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