Intelligence came back to his glazed expression.
My hands still roamed very freely over his beautiful body. My mouth still sought his lips for another kiss. Or, forget his lips, I nuzzled instead against his throat, tasting the skin there, trying to find the best place to sink into. But I forced myself to clench my teeth, trying to grab hold of the control that danced away just out of my reach.
“You need to slap me,” I told him after a moment. “Veronique was able to stop me from biting her when she slapped me.”
He swallowed hard. “I can’t.”
“You can’t or you won’t?”
“I won’t hit you,” he said firmly.
“Don’t say I didn’t offer.” I sank my sharp fangs into his throat and his blood spilled into my mouth—so unbelievably delicious and addictive and just plain yummy. I drank him in, literally, and felt my untapped power increase even further, like a glowing light at my core getting brighter and brighter—a sun that wouldn’t hurt me, that would only make me stronger.
Thierry pushed at me. Even though I knew he didn’t have a problem with my bite, as evidenced a few times before in our relationship, he was now trying to stop me.
“Slap me,” I begged him again. “Before it’s too late.”
Then I felt someone’s hands on my back and I was pulled off Thierry where I had him pinned to the bed. My eyes widened at that realization. When did we get to the bed? I turned with a hiss at the unexpected interruption.
Janie Parker stood behind me. “Hey there. How’s it going?”
Then she hauled back and backhanded me so hard my ears rang.
Chapter 18
D id you say something about slapping you?” Janie whacked the other side of my face even harder. “I’m only trying to help.”
Half of me wanted to lunge at her and tear her throat out—well, we’d never really been bosom buddies—but the pain from the slap helped me gain a little control back. I skulked over to the far side of the room and glared at her from the shadows.
Quinn was behind her with an expression that was part worry, part disgust. Harsh judgment from a former vampire hunter who once upon a time had the hots for me. Just super duper.
Thierry held a hand to his injured neck for a moment until it healed as if by magic. His expression was unreadable. “Thank you for intervening.”
Janie shook her head. “When a woman gives you explicit permission to slap her around, you should take her up on it.”
His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps Quinn wouldn’t have had a problem striking you, but I refuse to harm Sarah.”
“Don’t drag me into this.” Quinn sent another wary glance in my direction.
Janie surveyed the room with a sweeping glance and then pulled a wooden stake out of her shoulder bag.
“Don’t even think about it.” Thierry’s brow lowered.
“Hell, maybe this is for you. After all, you’re looking a little out of control yourself, stud.”
Quinn put a hand on his fiancée’s tense arm. “That won’t be necessary, Janie.”
“She’s a nightwalker,” she reminded him with a nod in my direction. “I’ve read the stories in the history books.”
“Sarah’s got a curse,” Quinn explained. “You already know this.”
“Doesn’t make her any less dangerous.”
“She’s different.”
“Doesn’t look all that different to me.” She studied me for a moment. I refrained from hissing at her, since I didn’t think that would go over well. After another moment, she grudgingly put her stake away.
I could still taste Thierry’s blood. I wanted more, but there was that part of the real me still fighting like hell to stay in control.
“I need to speak with you,” Quinn said. For a moment I thought he was talking to me, but his attention was on Thierry.
Thierry’s eyes had returned to their normal silver shade. After a searching glance at me that also held a heavy dose of guilt, but saying nothing further, he turned and left the room with Quinn.
Janie stood there, blocking the door, which at the moment was my only escape, with her arms crossed in front of her.
You can take the mercenary out of the girl but you can’t take the girl out of the mercenary.
Or something like that.
“So—” She gave me a weary grin. “Are we having fun yet, or what?”
“I’m going to have to go with what’s behind door number two.”
“Feeling any better?”
“Microscopically.”
“I thought for a moment we’d walked into an explicit love scene. But then I noticed you both still had your clothes on and your teeth were stuck in his neck. Kind of a tip-off to trouble.”
“You’re very observant.”
She exhaled. “You’re way different than the last time I saw you. A little less with the happy.”
“It’s been a busy month.” I blinked slowly. “For both of us. I still can’t believe that you and Quinn are together.”
“Believe it.”
“Care to share how you two hooked up?”
“I was assigned by my demonic boss to get a magical artifact Quinn had a map to in
Arizona. Then I was supposed to kill him. We ended up working together to defeat the bad guy. Then I almost got killed and he had to sire me so I’m now a card-carrying member of the fang gang. You want more details, you can buy my memoirs.”
Janie was always more of a smart-ass than even I was. Well, marginally. But I knew down deep—very deep—she had a good heart. She had saved my life before. That counted for something with me. She’d had a hard life and had fallen in with some questionable people, but in the end she made good choices. Including Quinn.
My control was now back up to at least 60 percent. “Quinn’s a great guy.”