Hunting Ground [Claiming Series, #3]

- 10 -

But when he was done and had tossed the bag into the biohazard container he found no revulsion on Tessa's face.

Well, that hadn't worked. Although he supposed it had been only a faint hope.

"Talk to me, Kane," she said quietly. "Just lie here and talk to me."

Lie with her and talk? He was quite certain he'd never heard a more ludicrous idea. "You jest."

"No, I'm serious. Obviously, I'm tormenting you in ways I don't understand. And I can't say I'm exactly happy about it, either. So maybe we just need to talk."

"We've been talking. I keep getting the feeling you don't really hear."

"I hear. I get it."

"You couldn't possibly get it. I told you were playing with fire. This is the kind of fire that could immolate one or both of us. That's the part you don't get."

"And we might all be dead in a few days if these rogues have their way."

That sounded logical, and that alone should have warned him he was utterly illogical right then. Moving cautiously now, he came to the bed and stretched out beside her. Her scent was heady enough that he didn't even need to touch her to set off a fresh storm of hunger.

If he had half the brain he'd always credited himself with, he'd put a hundred miles between himself and the tempting delicacy before he lost whatever was left of his soul.

She spoke tentatively. "So claiming is bad?"

"Only when it ends."

"And you don't want to risk that again."

"Most assuredly not." He sighed and rolled onto his side, judging that it was safe to just look at her. Face-to-face, but not touching. Safe, perhaps, but not wise. Those oddly colored eyes of hers still drew him, and he had to force himself not to look at the pulse he could hear throbbing in her neck, finally, he settled on looking at her crystal wolf' head, a reminder of the gulf between them, of her insecurities—which he seemed to be doing his best to feed. Hell. "Most of us try to avoid it."

"But you can't control it?"

He shrugged. "I never had cause to think about it before. Violet and I claimed one another and it was right for us. We thought we would have eternity together. We did not."

"You certainly wouldn't have eternity with me," she said, her voice dropping. "That much is obvious."

"Well, I could change that, but only if you wanted. And still, little wolf, there are no guarantees. Your family would disown you. Are you prepared for that?"

"I don't know."

He shrugged one shoulder. "So you see, it's better not to risk it."

"What will Soren and Asher do? They have human mates."

"The time will come when all their resistance to changing Beth and Julie will vanish for fear of losing them. Both of them have already said they want to change."

"I see." She closed those hypnotic eyes of hers and sighed. "Can I be honest?"

"But of course. I have been honest. I tell you of my darkest secret, I make no lies about what I am—a predator who wants to make a meal of you. Someone who can take you to the stars and then leave you in despair for the rest of your days. I have told you of all the ways I could harm you. And your kind have at least taught you all this is worst in vampire nature."

Her eyes popped open and she glared at him. "Stop it. I judge you by what I see."

"And what you feel, which is seldom a good guide. I made you feel things I shouldn't have. I failed to maintain restraint."