Hotter After Midnight

“Not gonna happen, bitch,” he snarled. “Tonight you die.”



Just like before. The pain was the same. He was forcing his way into her mind, using his magic against her, hurting her.



“Stop!” She pushed the flow of her psychic energy back on him, digging just as hard into his mind as he was hers. She’d burn the bastard out, just like before.



Or she’d fucking die trying.



The images began rolling in front of her mind’s eye. Faster, faster…



“It’s over, Jake…”



A dark alley. A woman in a red dress.



A scream.



The woman dropped to the ground. Throat slashed. Blood all around.



Oh God. The pain was ripping her apart.



A circle of men, all in black, stood glaring next to an abandoned building. “You didn’t tell us he was a shifter,” one snarled, lifting his hand and pointing his finger straight ahead. A snake tattoo bared its fangs on his wrist. “We ain’t fuckin’ with no shifter again—”



A shot rang out. A circle of blood appeared on his chest. Three more shots.



Down, down go the demons.



Emily bit her lip, tasted blood as she fought to force the psychic power back on him.



“What the fuck do you want?” Darla frowned, her brows drawn low. “You know I’m working on the story about—”



Her blood sprayed on the wall behind her.



So much blood.



Emily grabbed her head, screaming. The pain was too much. She couldn’t fight him much longer.



Break, you sonofabitch!



Before she did…



A young boy, with the claws of a wolf and the eyes of a demon. He walked up to an old man, shuffling through the park and pushing a buggy of cans…



The blood sprayed onto the snow-covered ground.



The taste…so good…more



More…



More…



Emily fell onto the floor, her body shaking, twitching.



Too much. She couldn’t fight anymore.



Colin snarled. She forced her heavy eyelids open, saw him above her, jaws open.



No, not Colin.



She’d…loved him… as much as she could love anyone.



Maybe this was the way she would die…she hoped he made it quick. She stared into his glowing eyes, her body and mind shuddering with agony and she waited.



Her lips parted, “Love…” It was all she could manage. But she needed to say it, even though he wouldn’t understand. She had to say it once in her life, dammit, and actually mean it.



Colin sprang forward, jaws open, claws outstretched.



He flew right over her and barreled into Jake. The demon screamed in fury—but the sound ended in a sudden gurgle of pain.



The agonizing torture in her mind ended. Vanished in an instant. Emily pushed up on her knees. Jake’s body was twitching. She squinted in the darkness, trying to see more.



The wolf was over him, teeth lodged in the hybrid’s throat.



Looked like Jake hadn’t been able to control her wolf after all.



He shifted back into a man with the taste of Donnelley’s blood still in his mouth. The shift came easier because the beast was satiated.



His hands clenched and the claws slowly receded. For a time there, he knew Donnelley had tried to get him to attack Emily.



He’d seen the fear in her eyes, and there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do about it.



Then she’d started fighting, and he’d sensed her energy in the air around them. He’d realized that Emily and Donnelley were locked in a psychic battle, and when his mate had fallen to her knees, he’d understood that she was fighting for him, struggling to give him the time he needed to attack.



He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. Blood coated his fingers, still dripped down his chin.



Part of him wished he’d made the bastard suffer more. You died too easily. You should have screamed for death.



Donnelley stared sightlessly up at him, blood pooling beneath him. His throat was ripped wide open, his head barely hanging on.



Not even a full-blooded shifter could heal from a wound like that.



A soft footfall sounded behind him. He didn’t glance back. Emily shouldn’t see him this way. He didn’t want her to see him this way. Not with the blood of the kill on him.



For one terrible moment, he’d wanted to feel her neck beneath his claws and teeth.



For that, he wanted to kill the bastard all over again.



“Colin…” Soft, husky. “A-are you all right?”



I nearly killed you. No, he wasn’t fucking all right. A growl rumbled in his throat.



A quick inhalation of breath. “H-he’s dead.”



Unless Donnelley could somehow breathe without a windpipe, yeah, he was dead.



Colin stared down at Donnelley’s face. His eyes were wide open, his mouth twisted in a snarl. Didn’t think you’d die, did you, asshole?



His hands clenched into fists and he forced himself to look at Emily. He could still smell her blood. The blood that had tempted him.



“We need to get you to a hospital.”



She was squinting down at the body, trying to see clearer with her human eyes in the darkness.



“No, I’m okay, I just—” Her hand lifted, brushed against her stomach, and a hiss of pain slipped past her lips. “It’s bloody as hell, but I-I don’t think it’s too deep. I-I’ll be all right.”



He reached for her, pulling her against him and cradling her carefully. He’d come too close to losing her. Too close.



A sudden scream shattered the silence.



Smith.



Colin looked up, found her standing in front of him, clad in her underwear, blood smearing her body. She had a gun in her hand, Emily’s gun, and she was shaking and pointing it straight at him.



“Monster! ” The cock of the hammer was too loud. “I saw you change! You’re like him, just like—”



The shock and the horror had gotten to her. She was going to fire, Colin realized. She was going to—



Emily shoved him to the ground. Her soft body fell onto his, and he heard the whoosh of the bullet fly past them.



Sonofabitch. Why did every human try to shoot him when they found out what he was?



He carefully pushed Emily to the side. Scanned her body to make damn sure the bullet hadn’t touched her. Then, satisfied but seriously pissed, Colin sprang to his feet. “Dammit, I saved your life!” Didn’t that count for anything? Or was he just another monster to her?



She stared up at him, mouth agape, gun still trembling in her fingers. Then her lips began to quiver. The gun fell to the floor and great, gulping sobs burst from within her.



Smith threw herself into his arms, pressing her wet face against his neck.



Humans.



Colin awkwardly stroked her back.



“Smith.” Emily’s soft voice. “How badly are you hurt?”



The ME lifted her face. Blinked. “I-I—”



“What did he do to you?” Colin asked, pitching his voice low. He didn’t want to set her off again.



“B-bit. Cl-clawed.” A shudder of revulsion swept over her.



Emily pulled out her cell phone. Quickly dialed and then asked to speak with McNeal. Colin heard her tell the captain the killer had been contained and that they needed an ambulance, ASAP.



She disconnected the call and then looked back at Colin. Smith was still pressed against him, still crying, but softly now. Almost whimpering.



“Smith, before the others arrive, we need to talk.” Emily’s voice was calm, soothing. The professional psychologist was back in place.



If he hadn’t been there, he never would have known the lady had just come moments away from death.



That was his doc. Core of steel.



Being as gentle as possible, Colin pushed Smith back until he could look into her eyes. “You know what I am.” And she’d tried to kill him. So what is new?



She nodded. “W-werewolf.”



Not exactly, but close enough for the time being.



“There are many…beings out there like Colin,” Emily told her. “They’re the Other and they walk right beside humans in this world.”



Smith shook her head, but Colin didn’t think she was denying Emily’s words.



“You can’t tell anyone about them, Smith. You can’t say what you saw…what Colin is…what Jake was.” Sirens echoed in the distance. The cops had been stationed close by. Not too close to alert the killer, but close enough for backup. “I’ll explain everything to you later, but please, promise me you won’t say anything to the other officers. Th-they wouldn’t understand.” Emily cast a quick, desperate look in Colin’s direction, but she kept her voice calm and easy.



A flash of blue lights lit up the warehouse.



“Smith, I need you to give me your word,” Colin said. “Don’t tell anyone what you saw here.”



Brakes squealed. Doors slammed. Voices rumbled.



Smith’s shoulders straightened and she looked at him with a touch of her old confidence. “D-don’t worry, Gyth…n-no one would b-believe me anyway…”



McNeal burst into the building. “Smith!”



She didn’t take her eyes off Colin. “B-but now I know…m-monsters—”



“Smith, thank God!” McNeal grabbed her, pulled her tight against his chest. “Woman, I thought I’d lost you.” His face was tormented.



Colin glanced over at Emily. She was staring at Donnelley’s body. He pushed to her side, needing to touch her.



His fingers found hers. Locked.



Jesus. He felt like he’d just lost a good ten years of his life. Emily had come so close to death…by his hand.



“You aren’t anything like him, you know,” she whispered, her words barely a breath of sound. “People think all wolf shifters are the same.”



Psychotic. Homicidal. Uncontrollable.



“But you’re different.”



He wasn’t so sure. Donnelley lay before him, throat almost completely gone. He’d killed him, just as easily as Donnelley had killed his victims. And given the same set of circumstances, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.



“You’re not like him,” she repeated softly, glancing up at him. “You could never be.”



If something happened to her, he could be. The knowledge was there. Uncomfortable. Painful. But true. If anything ever happened to the doc, his beast would break his cage.



She is mine. Every instinct in his body screamed of the possession. He didn’t understand how it had happened, but the doc…she was his mate.



A human, mated to a wolf shifter.



The Monster Doctor bound to a monster.



Fate could be a twisted bitch.



Emily stared up at him. Blood trickled down her throat.



Mine.



A circle of uniformed cops gaped down at Donnelley’s body. “Another one?” a young female officer exclaimed. “But I thought the Night Butcher was taken down—”



“He was.” Colin took Emily’s arm. Led her away from the body. He wanted to get her home. Naked. Under him. Not necessarily in that order. “That’s him.” McNeal could bullshit his way through an explanation of the killer’s torn throat. He was getting out of there and taking his mate with him.



She awoke to the feel of a man’s hand slowly stroking her thigh. It was a soft touch. Light.



Colin.



Emily stretched slowly and opened her eyes. It was still dark in the bedroom, but the faint light from the hallway trickled into the room. Colin was crouched between her thighs, naked.



And aroused.



The paramedics had grabbed her when they’d left the crime scene. They’d patched her up, bandaged her stomach—luckily, the cuts hadn’t been deep enough to require stitches.



They’d finally escaped from the EMTs, and Colin had taken her home.



They made love as soon as the front door closed behind them. Fast. Hard. He’d had her naked in less than a minute, and she’d been coming thirty seconds later.



For all of his strength, he’d taken care not to jar her injuries. He’d held her immobile against the wall, and thrust into her, deep, so deep.



They’d fallen asleep in his bed. His arms had been around her. His right hand lying on her heart.



And now…



His finger trailed up her thigh, eased between the folds of her legs.



“I want to taste you.” His voice was a growl in the darkness.



Oh yes. Sounded like a fabulous plan to her. Emily arched her hips.



Then felt the warm stroke of his tongue on the center of her desire. She closed her eyes, sighing with pleasure. Oh, that is good.



So—



His tongue swirled over her clitoris, sucked lightly.



Her heels dug into the mattress.



His breath blew across her flesh, and one finger slid into her hungry sex. Another slow swirl of his tongue.



Her entire body tightened. “C-Colin!”



He kept licking her, moving that tongue over every inch of her sex in long, maddening swipes that had her twisting, moaning, then—



Colin drove his tongue deep inside of her.



Her fingers locked in his hair. Not to push him away, but to hold him closer. Tighter.



“More! ” She was close, so close.



His thumb pushed the button of her need and his tongue drove deep again, licking inside her core with just the perfect touch.



Her hips bucked and her orgasm rolled over her in a tide of red-hot pleasure. And as her sex clenched, he kept lapping her, licking and sucking on her tender flesh until the waves of her release finally ended.



Emily sagged against the bed. Wow.



Colin stretched out beside her. Curled his body around hers. She could feel his aroused flesh pressing into her buttocks, but he made no move to take her. “Colin, aren’t you—”