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For me.
Despite the pain—or maybe because of it—wonder filled my heart.
He scrambled the few feet to where I was curled on the concrete and eased up my bloody shirt. He sucked in a breath.
“Damn you, Ridley. You’re not supposed to get hurt.”
“Didn’t…plan…to.”
“Don’t talk. And don’t move. You’ll make the bleeding worse.”
He ripped off his T-shirt, tore a large patch off the bottom, and pressed it to my side. “Hold that against the wound.”
My hand fluttered. I tried but failed to move it to the T-shirt he held over my wound. My hand fell back to my side.
Zaq cursed, low and vicious. “We have to get you out of here.”
Blackness edged my vision. My arms and legs had turned to wet noodles and my side burned like a motherfo. I pushed ineffectually at his thigh with the back of my hand.
“Go. I’ll just slow you down.”
He gave an animal-like snarl, his green eyes rimmed an Arctic blue. I blinked. I’d never seen him look so fierce.
“You really think I’d leave you for those scumbags?”
He scooped me up and jogged up the steps, while I pressed my forearm against the makeshift bandage covering the wound and concentrated on not screaming at the spiking pain.
I moistened my lips. “No,” I rasped.
“What?” He gave me a distracted look.
“Didn’t think…you’d…leave me.” My voice seemed to be coming from a long way away, but it seemed important to make that clear.
At the top of the stairs, he turned sideways so he could reach the door handle. “Put your arm around my neck and kiss me.”
I lifted my brows. Seriously? I thought but didn’t have the energy to say.
He growled. “Do it. And if anyone stops us, you’re drunk, got it?”
I understood then. I wriggled an arm free and somehow managed to loop it around his neck.
I touched my lips to the corner of his mouth. “But…where…go—?”
“Let me worry about that.”
He kicked open the door and stepped into the dawn.
30
ZAQ
I peered around the dumpster, Ridley cradled to my chest. Forty-second Street was empty. The late-night crowd had gone to bed and the morning rush hour hadn’t begun yet. The few humans left were drunk, on drugs, or smart enough to mind their own business, and the vampires would have returned to their lairs to take their day sleep.
I pulled my glamour over me, nuzzled Ridley’s neck to hide her face, and strode down the sidewalk like a man with sex on his mind.
There was too much I didn’t understand about what had just gone down. Still, one thing was clear—someone had put out a hit on not just me, but Ridley. And with her injured, the best thing was to go to ground while she healed. Somewhere safe with both food and blood-wine, and maybe access to a thrall for fresh blood.
I racked my mind for options, but the only place that checked all the boxes was my own loft. I decided to take the chance.
