Maggie despised the blank screen of her phone. A few times she’d picked it up with the intention of breaking it so she wouldn’t have to look at it anymore, but she’d managed to restrain herself. Now, she set it back on the bar, scratched her arm, and fiddled with the edges of the coaster she’d set on top of her empty glass. It was pointless to keep drinking when the whiskey wasn’t doing anything to calm her nerves.

A ripple of motion in the restaurant and a shift in the air caused her head to lift. A prickle of awareness ran over her skin and the sensation of her flesh being stretched too thin over her bones eased. She didn’t have to see Aiden to know he’d returned.

“Oh, shit,” Brian said.

Maggie turned on her barstool. Her heart lodged in her throat before plunging into her stomach when she spotted Aiden in the doorway of the restaurant. His green eyes were locked on her; his black hair was wet and disheveled. He’d been wearing different clothes when he left, but she saw no marks on him, and he appeared uninjured.

He did appear murderous though.

She had no idea what it was about him, but he exuded a lethal aura that had the people closest to him scampering away while he stalked across the restaurant toward her. Brian rose and stepped forward to block his way. Aiden’s eyes slid toward him, and a flash of red swirled through their leaf-green depths.

“You’ll frighten her,” Brian said in a low voice when Aiden was close enough to him.

Maggie realized Brian would protect her if he believed it necessary. The resulting fight would make the fight Aiden had in the ambulance look like a schoolyard scuffle.

Besides, Brian was wrong; she wasn’t frightened of Aiden. She’d seen him like this before, maybe not quite this wound up, but she’d seen him on the verge of losing control, and he would never harm her.

Leaping off her stool, Maggie hurried forward as Aiden stopped in front of Brian. “Get out of my way,” Aiden growled at Brian.

“Aiden—”

“It’s fine,” Maggie interrupted Abby. She strode around Abby and Brian to place her hand on Aiden’s chest. When his hand enclosed on her wrist, some of the tension eased from his body and he pulled her against him.

“Maggie,” he breathed.

Awe swept through her as she realized how much she affected this powerful being. He’d entered here primed to kill, but now he appeared only half murderous.

Neither of them looked back at the others as he turned and hurried her out of the room. Maggie ignored the startled receptionists at the front desk when Aiden lifted her into his arms and stalked toward the stairwell. To avoid tripping him or kicking him in the shins, Maggie wrapped her legs around his waist.

“What happened?” she asked as he pushed through the swinging doors and into the stairwell.

Instead of replying, he clasped the back of her head and kissed her. Though his kiss was harsh and demanding, Maggie went limp against him and slid her arms around his neck. His erection rubbed tantalizingly against the junction of her thighs with every step he took up the stairs. She had no idea how he concentrated on climbing when all she could think about was getting him naked, but he never missed a step.

Holding Maggie again calmed him more than the numerous blood bags he’d consumed before coming here. It had taken more blood than he typically required, but eventually he’d felt in control enough to shower and return to her.

Part of his lack of control was because of Maggie. They weren’t bonded yet. If they were, he could have connected mentally with her and her presence would have soothed him before he returned to her. If they were mated, he wouldn’t have to fear her fragile mortality.

Aiden shook as the reminder of her humanity caused the unraveling within him to start again. Breaking the kiss, he turned to press her against the wall at the second-floor stair landing. Kissing her neck, he pulled her hair back and sank his fangs into the delicate column of her throat. Maggie gasped and rubbed his cock in a way that had him on the verge of taking her there.

He’d made sure to learn the location of every camera in this hotel. The stairwells didn’t have any, and neither did the hallways. All the cameras were on the first floor. He could bury himself inside her here, no one would see, and she wouldn’t stop him.

His hands fell to the button on her jeans before he realized there might not be cameras, but anyone could stumble across them at any time. And no one would see Maggie exposed in such a way.

Retracting his fangs, he pulled her away from the wall and opened the door to the second-floor hall. Their rooms weren’t on this floor, but he didn’t care.

Maggie nuzzled his neck as he listened to the heartbeats behind each door they passed until he didn’t detect any behind one of the doors. Aiden grabbed the handle, jerked it down, and shoved against the door. It gave way with an audible crack, and he had the laughable notion that they’d probably install hallway cameras after tonight.

“Aiden, this isn’t one of our rooms,” Maggie whispered.

“It is now,” he said as he kicked the door shut with his heel.

Setting his hands on her waist, he lifted her off him and placed her on the bed. Undoing the button on her jeans, he pulled them down her creamy thighs before tugging off her sneakers and tossing them aside. He removed his boots and jeans next.

She glanced nervously at the closed door. “What if they find us?”

“They won’t.” He placed his hands on her knees, spreading them apart as he climbed onto the bed with her. She leaned back as he knelt between her legs. Grasping his shaft, he rubbed the head of it against her entrance and groaned. “You’re so wet for me.”

When he thrust forward, Maggie forgot all about her nervousness over being discovered. All she could think about was the sensation of him sliding in and out of her as he planted his hands beside her head. In the muted light filtering through the window, his eyes shone red.

“Must see you.”

She didn’t know what he meant until he grasped her shirt and tore it open. He gripped the front of her bra and twisted it until the material gave way. Cool air rushed over her heated skin when he bared her to him. His lips skimmed back to reveal his glistening fangs as his gaze ran over her. A thrill of apprehension went through her. He was more out of control than she’d realized.

“My Maggie,” he breathed, his eyes fastening on her breasts. She grasped the bottom of his shirt and tugged it impatiently up; suddenly, she had to see him as badly as he’d needed to see her.

He pulled his shirt the rest of the way off and tossed it aside before lowering himself to take one of her nipples into his mouth. He worked his tongue over the hardened bud as he sank his fangs into her. Her hands entwined in his hair, drawing him closer while he consumed her blood.

A sense of loss filled her when he retracted his fangs and leaned back to gaze down at her. A bead of her blood glistened on his lips. Sliding her hand up, she gripped the back of his head and dragged him toward her.

She licked the blood away before sliding her tongue into his mouth. His arms cinched around her as he lifted her. Kneeling on the mattress, he braced his legs apart while he plunged her onto his shaft. Maggie’s legs locked around his waist, and she clung to him.

He nipped her ear and circled his hips in a way that had his body rubbing her clit in all the right ways. She cried out and her body bucked against his. “Do you like that?” he murmured, and his fangs scraped her neck.

“Yes.” Her belly clenched as their sweat-slicked bodies moved against each other.

“Would you like to taste my blood again?” he asked.

A need unlike anything she’d ever known speared her. “Yes.”

Her charcoal eyes were filled with longing when she leaned back to look at him. Releasing her hair, he lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit deep. Maggie licked her lips when she saw his blood trickling from the two punctures.

When he brought his wrist to her mouth, she seized it and drank deeply from him. She moaned as his blood filled her mouth. It was more delicious than the finest chocolate, she decided as it slid down her throat.

“My Maggie,” he breathed as she drank from him.

Her tongue licked over his flesh. When she started riding him again, her body grinding hard against his, he couldn’t deny he was lost to her. Love swelled within him as he nourished her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for this woman who had brought peace and happiness to his tumultuous life.

She let go of his wrist and turned her head to kiss him. He tasted his blood on her lips as her butterscotch scent engulfed him. When she cried out against his mouth and the muscles of her sheath clenched around his cock, he gave himself over to the release building within him.