Quinn’s hand trailed down the etched center path of Julian’s abs in a lazy caress. Leaning over him, she nipped at his skin before licking a pathway up toward his mouth. He growled, his hand tightening on her shoulder.

Exhaustion clung to her, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from tasting and touching him all day. She had no intention of getting out of this bed or going to sleep anytime soon. His hooded gaze met hers as she lifted her head to look at him. The wildness of his ice-blue eyes made her deadened heart leap.

He was stunning, but beneath his beauty lived the soul of one of the most brutal men she’d ever encountered. For her, or any of his friends, he would carve a path of destruction across the earth to keep them protected. His contrasting ruthlessness and devotion only made her love him more.

Just last night she’d been thinking she wanted nothing to do with the vampire race again; now she would do anything to help him succeed with his plan for the vampires. If anyone could bring the three different species together and keep them united, it was Julian. She had no doubt of that.

Passion simmered in his eyes while he watched her as she traced her fingers over his chin and across his lips. “I want you to do me a favor,” she said.

“Anything for you, Dewdrop.”

“I want you to kill Earl.”

She knew how he felt about Earl, knew what he wanted to do to him, and she understood why. When she’d had her hands on Earl in the hotel, all she’d wanted was to make his death as torturous as possible. She’d planned to bring him back from the edge of death only to push him toward it again and again until he finally cracked and there was nothing left to him but a broken shell. If someone had abused Julian the way Earl had her, she would have done anything to make them pay for it.

A part of her still wanted to make Earl pay for the pain he’d inflicted on her, her family, and her friends. That part wanted his suffering so badly it screamed to be set free in the room with Earl for days on end, even as she spoke about ending his existence. Seeing Earl pinned to the floor in such a way had shocked her and brought back a flood of memories, but it had also been a good starting point for him. There was so much she could do to the man who had destroyed her life while he was in such a position.

If she started down that slippery slope, she knew there was a chance she’d never climb up it again. To allow herself to torture Earl in such a way was to become like him, and no matter how badly she wanted him to suffer, she wouldn’t cross that line, and she didn’t want Julian to cross it either. She wasn’t willing to lose Julian to the violence she knew he craved in order to ease her deep-seated need for vengeance against a man who wasn’t worth it.

“He deserves everything I plan to do to him,” Julian said.

“I know he does. More than anyone, I know. But I don’t want it. I despise that man. What I did to him with my power was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, and it was sadistic, but I don’t want you to have to do this.”

“And if I told you I enjoyed doing this to him.”

It wasn’t a question; she knew Julian relished making Earl suffer. She’d never had any doubts about who Julian was or what he was capable of. He’d never tried to hide it from her.

“I’d believe you,” she replied.

“And does it disgust you?”

“No,” she said honestly, “but it makes me fear for you.”

Clasping her cheeks in his palms, he drew her down for a deep, penetrating kiss that made her entire body quiver. His hands slid over her back, down across her side, before cupping her ass and pulling her on top of him. She moaned when she felt the swell of his arousal against her.

“Don’t worry for me,” he murmured, his lips brushing over hers. “As long as I have you, I’ll be fine. I can stay grounded with you, for you.”

“I have to worry. You can be so…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of the right word.

“Dark?”

“Maybe, I guess.”

“Twisted?”

She gasped when he slipped inside of her at the same time his fangs pierced her neck. She tried to remember what she’d been saying as his love for her swirled within her mind.

“Not twisted,” she panted, her fingers digging into the unyielding flesh of his chest.

His lips curved into a smile against her throat. Retracting his fangs, he licked away the drops of her blood left behind. “I can be,” he said as he kissed his way up her throat to her ear. “And I think you’d like some of the ways I could be.”

“I have no doubt,” she admitted.

He rolled suddenly, pinning her beneath him. Rising over the top of her, he gripped her hands and held them to the mattress. Quinn stared up at him as the tentacles of her power slipped free to seek him out. Her ability latched onto him, but not to drain, simply to connect them further.

“I can’t lose you,” she whispered. “I want Earl out of our lives for good.”

He lifted her hands above her head as he lowered himself over her again. “You’ll never lose me, not to the darkness, not while you live. I’ll always come back for you. Will you stop worrying about me if I kill him tomorrow?”

“Yes. I don’t want him so close to us either. He’s in chains, but chains can be escaped. Death can’t. I thought I’d be the one to end him, but…”

“But what?” he prodded when her words trailed off.

“But I’d prefer never seeing him again. I want to move on, with you. I want to know what it’s like to have a life with you. A life that doesn’t involve that bastard haunting me every second of it. I want to know what it’s like to live a day without fearing what will happen if I find him, or if he finds me. I’m ready to be completely free of him, and his death is the only way that can happen. If I have to be the one to end him, I will.”

“He’s mine. No matter what, I will be the one to kill him.” His eyes searched hers for a minute before he bent his head to nibble on her lip. “I will kill him tomorrow.”

She smiled as she drew her legs up and clamped them against his sides. “You sweet talker you,” she teased.

A cocky grin curved his mouth as he turned his head so that the tantalizing vein running through it was within her striking distance. “I know what you crave.”

She laughed as her heart swelled with her love for him. “Oh yes, you definitely know how to ease all of my cravings.”

She sank her fangs into his neck, re-establishing their soul-deep mating bond as he pierced her flesh again with his own fangs. She lost herself to the touch and feel of him when he moved over her.

***

Julian climbed out from the room between Clint’s garage with Earl’s body draped over his shoulder. Turning, he slid the cover back into place. Chris and Devon stood by the door of the garage, watching him. He’d asked Devon to release Earl from his mind control when he’d gone below, but Earl still hadn’t put up much of a fight.

Chris turned away from the spectacle of Julian’s handiwork; Devon didn’t. He’d promised Quinn he would kill Earl today, but he’d still taken the time to make Earl’s death as unpleasant as he possibly could beforehand.

“Cut your time with him short,” Devon said.

“Quinn asked me to,” Julian replied.

“I see.”

“I’m going to take his body out to the desert. The sun will get rid of whatever remains the coyotes don’t get tonight.”

Julian didn’t wait for them to reply before slipping by them and breaking into a run. The desert shifted beneath his feet as he raced through the night with Earl’s body dangling over his shoulder. The scent of the cooling sand and the feral aroma of the wildlife creeping through the night filled his nostrils while he ran.

He tossed Earl’s body behind a rocky outcropping and stopped to survey the night. The stars seemed to stretch endlessly on in the inky night sky. He searched for any hint of danger amongst the scattered cactus and rock formations, but the desert remained serene.

With Earl dead, Quinn was safer than she’d been in years. No other vampire would know upon seeing her that she hadn’t required direct blood from a vampire in order to complete the change. Despite that, any vampire who had heard the prophecy and saw her use her ability would know it was her. They may not understand the prophecy without knowing her history, but they wouldn’t care about that, not if they could find a way to use her for themselves.

Yet, instead of continuing to try to hide her away from the vampires, he intended to reveal her to them. Over the years, he’d learned countless times just how quickly something could unravel. He believed trying to hide her would most likely backfire on them one day. By revealing her, there would be vampires everywhere who would most likely fall into line with her and try to keep her safe.

He could only hope this decision was not the one that backfired.

He didn’t look at Earl’s body before he turned and ran back to where Quinn and the others were helping Clint put his bar back together. Running to the front of the building, Julian leaped up the stairs and pushed the door to the bar open. Clint and Quinn stopped trying to scrub the blood stains from the floor when he stepped inside. Devon and Chris had already returned to the bar and were helping the others put a fresh coat of dark stain on the walls.

“It’s looking good,” he commented.

“Should have this place up for sale by the time Hawtie gets out of the hospital,” Clint said.

“When is she getting out?”

“The doc says she’ll be good to go in two days.” Clint returned to scrubbing the floor. “I don’t know who’s going to buy the murder bar though,” he muttered as he worked.

Quinn blinked at him and sat back to rest her hands on her thighs. The scrub brush in her hand caused a wet stain to spread across her jeans as she gazed at Clint. “Are they really calling it the murder bar?”

“If they’re not already, they will be,” Clint replied.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I don’t think there will be any stopping it,” Clint said. “I’m thinking maybe I could sell it as haunted. You know like a gimmick type thing or something. People eat that shit up now.”

“It could work,” Chris said. “Maybe you could have Julian haunt it or something. He’s pale enough to be Casper.”

Julian shot him a look. “Easy, Christopher.”

Chris grinned at him before returning to painting the wall. Quinn rose to her feet and dropped her scrub brush into a bucket of red-tinted water. Clint did the same.

Quinn’s eyes were troubled as she strolled over to Julian. She rested her hand against his cheek. “Is everything taken care of?” she asked.

The fresh scent of her cucumber shampoo filled his nose when he bent to kiss the top of her head. “It is.”

Her shoulders slumped with relief. “Thank you.”

He kissed her again before straightening away from her. Clint thrust a paint brush into Julian’s hand as he walked by. “Get to painting, Dennis.”

Julian did a double take at the name, and then his eyes narrowed when he figured out why the man had called him Dennis. Quinn giggled and playfully bumped his hip. Chris didn’t bother to try to stifle his loud laughter. The others all stared at Clint while they tried to puzzle out why Clint had called him Dennis.

“Does he have dementia?” Cassie asked in a hushed whisper that only caused Chris to laugh harder.

“Clint likes to give Julian nicknames,” Quinn explained when Clint walked into the kitchen. “Like Hulk Hogan, Billy Idol, Draco Malfoy, and Eminem. Now Dennis.”

“Dennis who?” Devon asked.

“The Menace,” Julian ground out from between his clamped teeth.

Quinn was unable to suppress her laughter anymore, and the others joined in.

“I like that guy!” Devon announced.

Julian glowered at him, but he couldn’t hold onto his irritation when Quinn’s twinkling eyes met his. It had been so long since he’d seen so much merriment coming from her. He took hold of her hand and lifted it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. He would do everything in his power to make her laugh like this every day for the rest of their lives.

“You kind of deserve it,” Cassie said to him. “You do love tossing around your own nicknames for everyone.”

“That you do,” Quinn agreed.

“But you love it, Dewdrop,” he said.

“Maybe I do, Dennis,” she teased and rose to kiss him.

He brushed back a strand of her silken hair and ran his hand around to cup her nape. “Would you like to own the murder bar?”

Her smile slid away as her brow furrowed. “I could never afford this place.”

“I can,” he said. “And it’s us now. It will be for an eternity. Don’t forget that.”

She hastily brushed away the tears filling her eyes with the back of her hand. “Us,” she murmured.

“Yes.” He turned her away from the others. “We are interwoven, Quinn, mated. It’s a deeper bond than marriage.”

“I know. I understand, but I’ve been taking care of myself for six years now.”

“And now you have me to be here for you, and I’m going to make every single one of your dreams come true. When all of this is done, all you will know is love and security, even if I have to destroy every other vampire to ensure that happens. I swear you will have peace, Quinn.”

Her hands flattened against his chest as she searched his gaze. “We will have peace.”

He drew her a step closer to brush his lips over her full mouth. Lust shot through him when he caught the scent of his blood within her. “I know how much you enjoy working here and this place. If you want it, it’s yours.”

“We can’t stay here. The townspeople would eventually realize we haven’t aged in a while,” she said. “I feel like owning the murder bar, on top of being the eternal youth couple, might have them all lining up outside with pitchforks and torches.”

“In a few years, we’ll have to leave here, but we could return again after a while. We could find someone to run the bar for us while we’re gone.”

“And what if the vampires agree to your plan? Won’t we have to travel often to lead over them?”

“Not necessarily. Like the bar, we’ll recruit others to run certain areas while we’re gone. It could be tricky, but we can figure it all out.”

She glanced around the bar, her brow furrowed. “And what of your search for other Hunters and Guardians?”

“I’m done with searching. If they’re out there, they’ll be more likely to come out of hiding if they feel it’s safer for them. I’ve found everything I was looking for, and more than I ever expected, with you.”

“So have I, with you,” she said. “I’m not ready to be out of a job, but I’m also not ready to be a bar owner. I think maybe it’s time to move on, to see a little bit more of the world at night.” She rested her hand against his cheek. “Besides, I think things are complicated enough in our lives without throwing the murder bar into the mix.”

“If you change your mind, I’ll buy it from Clint tomorrow.”

“I love you.”

“Good, because you’re stuck with me for a long time.”

“Wouldn’t have chosen anyone else.”

“Neither would I,” he replied truthfully.

And he wouldn’t have. She was everything he could have asked for in a mate and so much more—strong, assured, and willing to do whatever had to be done in order to ensure they both survived. She’d calmed the monster within him, but she also accepted his sometimes brutal nature and was willing to unleash her own savagery when it became necessary. She was a fighter, a survivor, and she was his.

“Get to painting, Dennis,” she said with a wink and handed him the paintbrush he hadn’t realized she’d slipped from his hand.