Willow

Six years earlier

“Mark! Mark, are you in there? Why aren’t you answering your phone?” I knock on his apartment door, not caring if I disturb the neighbors. They’ll be mine in a few months; they’d better get used to me. “Mark, come on. I can hear your music playing. We’re late for dinner with my family. Let me in.”

The door cracks open, but no one is on the other side, and it’s then that I notice the broken lock. I rush inside, expecting to find broken glass or signs of a burglary. Instead, I see streaks of blood along the walls, the floor, and splashed across the back of the white couch. I call his name, tears burning my eyes. He’s there. Lying in a pool of his own blood, the gaping wound at his throat making it clear he’s gone. My soft-spoken, caring, loyal Mark is gone.

Hands shaking, I pull out my phone to call the police, but it rings as I begin to dial.

“Mom, I …”

“Willow.” Her voice is a panic-laced whisper. “Don’t come home. He’s here.”

My stomach twists. No. This can’t be happening. I hear a clatter and a thud before the line goes dead. With one last tortured glance back, I take a harsh breath and race from the apartment, trailing bloody footprints all the way to my car.

* * *

Devin

“What are you thinking?” I stroke her hair as we stand together in front of the window.

Turning her face to meet mine, she blinks unfocused eyes before locking them on me. “I … It’s nothing. Just a memory.”

She’s thinking of him. I can feel the lie in the air. “Tell me the truth, Willow.”

Taking a deep breath, she presses her lips in a tight line. I think she’s going to refuse me, but then her brows soften and she takes my hand, leading me to the couch. “I killed him. I killed Mark and my parents.”

Shock rolls through me. There’s no way this is true. Opening my mouth, I begin to form those very words, but she stops me.

“Let me finish.” When I nod, she continues. “In the eyes of the authorities, and of both our families, I killed them. But it wasn’t me. It was a vampire.”

Of course. Every hunter has a reason. This is hers.

“I found Mark. Then I found them. The police questioned me at the scene of my parents’ murders. It wasn’t hard to match the tread of my shoes, the blood on my hands and clothes to Mark’s. As soon as I realized they were going to pin it on me, I escaped. I ran and never went back. I haven’t been Willow Collins for a very long time. Because I can’t.”

“So, you stalk the night for the vampire who killed them? Like an avenging angel?”

She smirks, the despair in her eyes not matching her lips. “I like to think more like Batman, or Buffy.”

Humor as a defense mechanism. I’m all too familiar with that tactic.

“Right. So, have you found him?”

Shaking her head, she focuses on the brightening sky in the window. “Not yet. But I will.”

My blood begins to tingle as the last few minutes of the night ebb. “I have to go.”

“Stay.” Her voice is small and sweet.

Smiling, I give a small shake of my head. “I can’t.”

“I’ve got a walk-in closet. You can shove a blanket under the door, and you’ll be safe.”

As tempting as it is, I need to be home. I have more to take care of than just my relationship with her. Like kidnapping Galen and Reese’s son. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, I inhale her scent and stand. “I have to get home. But I’ll be back for you. This isn’t done between us, Willow. I need you to know that.”

With a soft sigh, she nods and follows me to the door. “Devin,” she whispers, making me turn. “I’m falling in love with you too. And it scares me to death.”

One last kiss to her lips turns to passionate moans, and her leg hitches around my hip. God, I don’t want to leave. Her firm breasts press against my chest, and I can feel the catch in her breath as arousal takes hold. Fuck, I can smell it. Sariel begs me to take her even as I press her up to the wall and grind my cock along her center. With a glance behind us at the sky, I know I have to stop, or maybe I can pull her into the closet with me and fuck her all day. No, the time for fucking has passed.

The next time I’m inside her, we’ll be making love.

* * *

Willow

There’s a vampire in my closet.

I stare at the closed door, and I swear I can feel him behind the wood. I know I can’t open it, not even to check on him, but God, I want to see his handsome face. Every few minutes, a pang runs through me as I let my mind drift to him.

He’s in love with me. I’ve tried to let it sink in, to understand what that really means for us, but every time I think about it, my heart aches, knowing we don’t have long. Even if he loves me, I can’t let him risk his soul to stay with me.

Exhaustion weighs heavy on my limbs as I stare blankly at my bed. Devin and I stayed up all night, and now I’ve spent hours pacing, worried about my plans for the day, about leaving him alone. What if someone breaks in and goes for the closet? Would Devin wake and be able to defend himself? Jesus, I never thought I’d be worried about protecting a vampire from death. That’s not my typical behavior. I come from the school of “stake them and let them turn to dust.”

Checking my locks—again—I finally allow myself to crawl into bed. I need at least a few hours sleep if I’m going to be able to keep up with him when the sun sets. And I plan to. We still have to feed Sariel. My clit tingles at the thought of what we’ll need to do in order to take care of the angel’s needs. As I lie in my bed, I’m tempted to run my fingers over the little marble of arousal between my legs. But I still my itching fingers. I want to reserve my orgasms for Devin. From now on, he’s the only one who can make me scream.

I fall asleep easily, my eyes so tired, they can barely stay open as soon as my head hits the pillow. There’s something so strange about sleeping during the day. No matter how long or short your rest, you still wake feeling groggy, fuzzy, and vaguely ill. It’s the same for me now. I know I’ve slept the day away, but I feel like I just closed my eyes. The dark sky out my window tells me different. And the dipping of the bed as the man I’ve been dreaming of crawls up the mattress and begins licking away between my legs solidifies that night has fallen. Pleasure races through me as his tongue finds my clit while he fills me with his fingers.

“Jesus,” I cry, arching my back and digging my hands into his hair.

He pauses and rolls his eyes up to meet mine. “Devin. My name is Devin.”

I laugh but quickly choke on the sound when he nips my sensitive flesh and adds a third finger. “Devin, oh my God.”

“There it is. That’s much better.” His murmured words against my pussy vibrate in a delicious way.

I’m already close, but I don’t want to orgasm yet. I want his cock inside me when that happens. I’ve been waiting all day for him to sink into me.

“Don’t make me come. Not yet,” I beg.

He stills. “You don’t want to come?”

“Not until you’re fucking me so hard, I see stars.”

His eyes go hard as a flash of something fills them but leaves immediately, replaced with that playful glint I’ve come to love. “Then, by all means, let’s get to business.” He’s naked. A detail I overlooked in my current state of writhing on the bed in pleasure. “On your hands and knees, little hunter.”

A shiver runs down my spine. I’ve never let a man take me from behind. I couldn’t give up control, and letting someone hold me in a position that wouldn’t allow me to see what was happening always made me panic.

“I don’t think I can.”

He kisses my shoulder and gently turns me over onto my belly. His palm runs along the length of my back, followed by soft presses of his lips to my skin. When his mouth reaches my ass, he bites down, hard enough to make me yelp, but not so forcefully that he draws blood. I’m a tangled combination of terrified and so turned on, I’m shaking.

“Hands and knees,” he orders again.

I do as he asks, and with a knee between my own, he spreads my legs. His palm flattens between my shoulder blades as he pushes me down so that my rear is offered to him high in the air.

“I love your ass.” His hand runs in circles around one cheek. “One day, you’ll let me fuck it.”

I move to protest and tell him the fuck he will, but his hand connects with my skin in a sharp smack. Stinging blossoms over my flesh, but as soon as it begins, he’s entering me in one solid thrust. The mixture of pleasure and pain is overwhelming and I’m thrown over the edge, eyes wide with shock. No one has ever had the nerve to spank me either. But I fucking like it.

“Again,” I groan even as I’m still coming around him.

His hand connects with the other cheek in time with his next deep thrust. My toes curl as the sound fills the room and his answering grunt of pleasure rolls through me. “Fuck, Willow. I love you. I fucking love you.”

Thrusting over and over, he brings me to the brink, and I fall more times than I can count as his hand heats my ass and his cock owns me. Then, the motion of his hips becomes erratic as his hands grip my waist.

“Rise up on your knees, Angel.”

I do. His palms slide across my rib cage and up until he’s got each of my breasts in his hands. Thrusting forcefully, he takes my earlobe between his teeth and murmurs, “I’m fucking coming, and it’s only for you. Oh God, Willow.”

He shudders behind me and fills me, his long groan in my ear sending me spiraling into my own release along with him.

I know Sariel is feeding, but I’m focused on Devin. His kisses trail down my neck and shoulder, hands still holding me to him as he lays us across the bed.

“Willow?” His voice is soft in the darkness.

“Mm-hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Letting me love you.”

My heart sinks. I know he loves me, but I’m reminded once again of our end date. One day soon, I’ll have to let him go.