Once Bitten, Twice Burned(54)

She didn’t know what to say to that. He was right. She’d hated the fire. Hated dying, coming back, and not knowing anything.

Except she’d remembered him. Even after all of the flames and death, his image had come to her. Whispered through her mind. Her vampire.

Sexy. Dangerous. So compelling.

Powerful enough to push through the fire.

A vampire.

And I’m one now, too?

“Come to bed with me,” he murmured the words as his head bent and his lips feathered over her cheek. “You’ve been through hell.”

No, to hell.

But he was so tempting. Still naked. All of those rippling muscles. That thick cock. Gorgeous male.

“I can help you when the hunger comes.”

Fucking and feeding. That was what vampires did, right? The pleasure that had rocked through her before suddenly had her feeling shamed.

She’d had no control. Been just like an animal. Biting. Clawing. Would it always be that way? And when she did crave blood, would she be as desperate to satisfy her blood hunger as she’d been when she’d wanted sex with him?

What if she killed someone? Took too much?

“Sabine.”

Her lashes lifted. He stared at her with such care in his eyes.

“I will help you.”

She thought he might be the only one who could. It wasn’t like she had some kind of supernatural Rolodex. He was the strongest paranormal that she knew, and, despite everything . . .

I feel safe with him.

“If you really want to help me”—she drew in a deep breath—“then take me home.”

She had to see her family. Had to make sure that her brother was safe.

But Ryder shook his head, and, with regret pulling at his handsome face, he told her, “I’m sorry, love, but you can’t go home again.”

Her eyes narrowed. The hell I can’t.

And Sabine knew that her time with the sexy vamp had come to an end.





CHAPTER TEN




Getting away from Ryder had been surprisingly easy. The man slept like the dead, literally. When she’d been sure that he was out, Sabine had just slipped away.

Maybe he hadn’t expected her to leave. Maybe he’d thought that she was all after-sex slumberous. Maybe he’d thought she was the kind of girl who’d just turn her back on her family.

He needed to damn well think again.

She’d taken the truck. The one that he’d initially stolen. She’d ditched it at the first truck stop she came to, not wanting anyone to trail it.

She’d hitched a ride with a real sweetheart of a female truck driver. Daisy had been sixty-seven, with a grin as wide as Tennessee, and the woman had sure liked to talk.

She hadn’t noticed that Sabine didn’t exactly talk back much.

Sabine had thought about calling her family. Checking in to let them know that she was alive and semi-well, but when she and Daisy had stopped at an old-school diner, Sabine had glanced up at the TV installed near the counter and seen the news stories about Genesis. Fire had filled the small TV screen. The reporters had been talking about the death toll at the two facilities.

From all appearances, Genesis looked dead, but was it really? Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Especially after the nightmare that she’d been through for the last few weeks.

She hadn’t wanted to make any phone calls. Hadn’t wanted to do anything that might give away her location. She just wanted—home.

When Daisy left her in New Orleans, Sabine inhaled the scent of the river. Home. Finally. Darkness was falling, but the city shone at night. So many voices. Music drifting on the breeze.

Rhett’s place wasn’t on Bourbon Street. No, his bar was more secret, more shadowed. She hopped on the trolley, holding tight to the bar as she slipped inside. The bell rang, and the trolley slid away from the stop. From her perch, she watched her city sweep by.

And felt eyes watching her.

Her shoulders tensed, and Sabine glanced around the trolley car’s interior. A family . . . tourists . . . they always had the same eager look. Some college kids, wearing their Tulane shirts. A couple holding hands in the back. And . . .

And a guy, with a baseball cap pulled low over his head. Shoulders hunched, wearing a black T-shirt. A five o’clock shadow lined his jaw, and it looked like that jaw was turned away from her. As if the guy were paying her no attention.

But Sabine’s body was on alert. Something was wrong.

The trolley eased to a stop. She hadn’t planned to get off yet, but as soon as the trolley’s doors swished open, she rushed through them.

Baseball cap jumped off the trolley, too.

Not good.

She pushed her damp palms against her jeans. Daisy, bless her sweet, big heart, had given Sabine enough cash to buy some clothes. And the lady hadn’t even asked her about the rips and bloodstains in her old clothes. A real sweetheart.