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It’s okay Don’t be afraid

You are safe I promise

He sent the reassurances into her ht herhard from the wound at her throat Despite the ferocity of his thirst, a need amplified by the severity of his injuries, Dante’s as good Beyond the bite that startled her, he would not harm the feone, and you will forget all aboutTorn flesh wasfro over

Burns cooling

Pain fading

He eased up on the feh the taste of her was beyond enticing He’d registered the exotic note of her blood scent on his first draw, but now that his body was rejuvenating, his senses co back online fully, Dante couldn’t help but savor the sweetness of his unwilling Host

And her body

Beneath the shapeless white lab coat, she was strong, lean ht places Dante felt the ainst his chest where he pinned her on the storerooripped hard on his shoulders, no longer pushing against hi on to hi blood

God, she was so exquisite he could drink froht

He could do a hell of a lot ht, suddenly aware of the erection that edged hard and deood beneath hiel of mercy, even if she’ d come into the role by force

Dante breathed in her spicy-sweet scent, gently dropping a kiss on the wound that had fed hiainst her warht"

He s the all traces of his bite The fe from her te of her body only heightening Dante’s desire to be inside her

But he’d already taken enough froht In spite of the fact that she would re to seduce her in a puddle of stale river water and spilled blood Particularly after going at her neck like an aniht hand up near her face She flinched, understandably wary Her eyes were open now-- eyes, the color of flawless aquamarine

"My God, you are beautiful," he murmured, words he’d casually tossed out to nuly never meant more than he did now

"Please," she whispered "Please, don’t hurtto hurt you Just close your eyes now, angel It’s alainst her brow, and she would forget all about hiht," he told her as she shrank back from him on the floor, her eyes locked on to his as if she waited for him to strike her Dared him to Dante smoothed her hair off her cheek with the tenderness of a lover Her felt her tension ratchet a little tighter "Relax now You can trust--"

Soh

With a vicious snarl, Dante rolled away, flipping onto his back "What the hell?"

Heat spread froh hiathered at the back of his throat, just before his vision began to swiht froain, his body as uncooperative as a lead slab

Panting rapidly, those bright blue-green eyes ith panic, Dante’s angel of mercy peered over him Her pretty face warped in and out of his vision One slender hand was pressed to her neck, where he’d bitten her The other was raised up at shoulder level, holding an erip

Holy Christ

She’d drugged hi even worse as his blurring gaze struggled to hold on to the sed to fell hier, in that fleshy juncture of soft skin, the female bore a se of a teardrop falling into the bowl of a crescent enetic stamp that proclaimed the female sacred to those of Dante’s kind

She was a Breed within him, Dante had just completed one half of a solemn bond

By vampire law, she was his

Irrevocably

Eternally

The very last thing he wanted or needed

In his rowl He blinked dully, reaching out for the wo her by an easy foot His arhted doith irons His eyelids were too heavy to lifthis erstwhile savioress’s features blur before his eyes

She glared down at hiht, you psychotic son of a bitch!"

Tess leaped back fro out of her in a raw, rapid pant She could hardly believe what had just happened to her Or that she had ed to escape the crazed intruder at all

Thank God for the tranquilizer, she thought, relieved that she’d had the presence of e in her pocket Not to lanced at the spent needle, still clutched tightly in her hand, and winced

Shit She’d plugged him with the entire dose

No wonder he dropped like a ton of bricks He wasn’t going to be waking up anytiraht, even for aof worry stabbed her

What if she’d killed him?

Unsure why she should be concerned about so her throat out with his teeth just a few o, Tess inched her way back to where the , she was relieved to note

He was sprawled flat on his back, hisout on the floor where they’d fallen His hands--those large rip as he’d attacked her--were slack and still now His face, which had been concealed by the fall of his dark hair, was almost handsome at rest

No, not handsome, because even unconscious, his features held their stark angles and knife-edge planes Straight black brows cut dark slashes over his closed eyes His cheekbones were razor sharp, giving the slope of his face a lean, feral quality His noseline of its bridge had a faint jag in it fro strangely coh she was certain she didn’t know hiuy she’d associate with, and trying to picture hi into the clinic for pet care seeht She could only pray that once she called the cops to coain either

Tess glanced down, and her gaze caught on the glint of metal concealed beneath his sodden jacket She moved the leather aside and drew in her breath to see a curved blade of steel sheathed under his arun Other hand-to-hand implements studded a wide black belt that wrapped around his slim hips

This , who made the hard-asses down here on the riverfront look like rank poseurs Thisoff an air of violence

His mouth was the only bit of softness on hied state, his mouth was profanely beautiful The kind of mouth that could wreak havoc on a woles