On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(6)

She walked right up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. His gaze jumped to her face and Rose smiled, hoping she didn’t let her fangs show. When she got really hungry, they had a tendency to sharpen without her knowledge. “Are you alone?”

He grinned at her, flashing perfectly even, white teeth. “Not any longer.” He gave a low whistle. “I think my night just got way better.” His blue eyes gleamed at her.

Poor guy. He had no idea that his night was about to take a serious downturn. She leaned closer to him and let her body brush against his. “How about we go outside?” Rose licked her lips. That was sexy, right? “No one can see us there.”

His smile slipped. For a moment, she thought she’d done the wrong thing. Said the wrong words. Maybe she should have tried compelling him instead of using seduction but she was just so weak that she’d been afraid the compulsion wouldn’t work.

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” he replied as he caught her hand with his. In the next instant, he was pulling her through the crowd, heading right for the club’s back door. He was stronger than she’d realized at first glance. Muscled shoulders, a firm grip. He shoved the back door open with his left hand and then he turned back to her. “This was so much easier than I—”

Something slammed into him.

Not something. A fist. A powerful hook rammed into the side of her prey’s face and he stumbled, ramming into her. She tried to steady him, but the attacker was coming in again.

And, unfortunately, she recognized the attacker.

It was hard to forget the man who’d sent her to hell.

Julian Craig stood there, his golden eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at the man who was now trying to shield Rose with his body. Her prey had turned into her would-be protector, and it seemed sad right then.

I didn’t even get his name.

“You’re going to let her go,” Julian snarled. “Right now.”

“Who the f*ck are you?” Her prey shouted right back, but his shout didn’t carry far. The club was too loud. No one even gave them a second glance.

“I’m the man who is about to kick your ass,” Julian snapped back. “Now let her go.”

Why was Julian trying to ruin her undead life?

The blond had tensed and she knew he was getting ready to fight. Only it wouldn’t be a fair fight because a human would be no match for Julian. It would be a straight-up slaughter, and she didn’t have the stomach to watch that, not then.

Her fingers curled over her prey’s shoulder. She rose onto his toes and whispered into his ear, “Go back to the music. Go back inside and enjoy your night.” He needed to follow her order. Because if he stayed with her, if Julian attacked him full-force, then Rose knew the blond would die.

The guy glanced at her. Already, his jaw was bruising. His gaze was worried, confused. “What?”

“Go back to the music, *,” Julian blasted. “Now.”

But the blond shook his head. “You think I’m going to leave you with that psycho?” His stare was on Rose. “Forget it. Let’s get out of here together. My ride is waiting out front. We’ll get the hell away from this place and him.”

A growl broke from Julian. “She isn’t leaving with you.” His voice hardened even more as he said, “Rose, come to me. Now.”

What did the shifter want from her? She’d thought to be free of him. Did he just get off on jerking her around?

Rose sighed. As much as she might want to tell Julian to screw off, this wasn’t the time. She didn’t want to drag a human into her battle with the panther. So she pulled free of the blond and went to Julian’s side, frowning all the while. I’m not happy, Julian. Not happy at all.

“Good choice,” Julian praised, then he slammed the back door shut on the blond’s startled face. “Good f*cking choice.” He locked his fingers around her wrist and hauled her toward the back of the building. “We have to get out of here, now.”

She dug in her heels. A quick peek behind her showed that the blond wasn’t following. Good for him. “Do you like hurting me?”

Julian immediately froze. Then he whirled, stared at her a moment, as if shocked, then he freed her wrist. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hold so tight, I—”

She grabbed him and shoved him against the brick wall of the club. “I am starving, Julian. Starving.” Because she’d had a truly hellish last few months. She’d been captured by a covert government group who’d lured her in with the promise of helping her, only then they’d started playing torture games. She’d been trapped with them until recently…when she’d learned that her * of a brother had been the one to set up that twisted group in the first place. She’d just gotten her freedom and she needed to feed. Badly.

She did not need to be throat-blocked by Julian.

“You need blood?” He blinked. “You can have mine.” He tilted his head, offering his neck to her.

Only there was one big problem with drinking from Julian. He was a shifter—and shifter blood was incredibly powerful. Add that power boost to the animal attraction that she still felt for him—despite everything that had gone wrong between them—and, yes, that equaled a very big problem. Or maybe it equaled a whole lot of big problems.