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She’s not safe anywhere.
Anotherthunkrippled through the air. The force of the ax hitting the log vibrated my arms and lingered in my shoulders. Familiar pain. Safe pain.
Unlike her. Unlike whatever she’s doing to me.
The lastthunkrattled my body. Wood splintered to the ground, littering the area with haphazardly chopped logs. I didn’t even remember piling more on the stump. My movements were as mechanical as they were sure, muscle memory taking the driver’s seat as my mind spun.
And spun.
And then crashed.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head toward the sky. An evening breeze caressed my body, revealing the patches of sweat coating my underarms and chest, my upper back and sides. I took a breath and then another, processing each inhalation as a rolling tide that led into an exhalation.
No matter how hard I tried to hide, I couldn’t hide from her.
And why not? None of the other women I took every so often had ever affected me this way. I was always the one-and-done type, too paranoid to take anyone home to my cabin.
But not Rose. I had offered her an invitation as soon as we met. Something about her called to me, called to my wolf. She reminded me of home.
Home.
My eyes drifted toward the path that would lead back to the cabin. It wasn’t the same place. Not necessarily. I had worked on it over the years, changed the layers so they wouldn’t exactly resemble the structure that once stood there. The fire had destroyed more of it than I would have liked, but that was neither here nor there.
It was better that it was different. It was safer.
I shook my head and tossed the ax aside. I whipped off my shirt and tossed it carelessly in a different direction, the wet fabric attempting to stick to my fingers. Nothing was safe anymore. Even my brain decided it would rebel against all the usual efforts to keep it from going overboard.
Nothing helped. It was useless to resist.
A twig cracked behind me, prickling my ears. Awareness danced over my body as I honed in on the movement now evident in the surrounding area. Something was moving.
A lotof things were moving.
And they were all converging on me.
My nose picked up the scent before the vampires could reach the clearing. I shouldn’t have tossed the ax away from me. Though my wolf form could easily handle a bunch of fangs, I didn’t want to chance not being able to drive my truck. Considering how the last attack went, those solar lamps would come in handy.
And it was starting to smell like a group.
“Matéo Renou,” a gravelly voice called from the edge of the trees. “Paws up.”
Snickers accompanied the demand.
I bristled but raised my hands. No use wasting my energy on them just yet.
“Turn around,” the fang instructed. “Slowly.”
Though it pained me to do as instructed, I forced my body to obey. If I wanted to see Rose—if I wanted to trouble myself with whatever stupid issues I was having about sleeping with her—then I needed to stay alive.
At least long enough to be able to tell her that she means something to me.
My heart cracked in two.I can’t do that.
But my wolf snapped back,You must.
When my gaze fell on the vampire who dared surround me at dusk, I recognized him immediately.
“Lars,” I said like I was greeting an old friend. “Domingo never likes to show up himself, does he?”
