Jax woke to an empty bed. She jackknifed up, with newly acute senses impossible to miss, and sniffed the air. The rich scent of fresh coffee, scrambled eggs and toast filled the small place. Her belly growled. She was ravenous.

Naked, she slid from the sheets. Rising, she swayed for a moment, then blinked rapidly. Everything around her was brighter. Sharper. Her body fairly vibrated with a feeling of vitality and power.

And because Marcus was near.

She strode noiselessly in the dark, her instincts taking her down a short hall to a small living room.

In the kitchen, she took a moment to take him in. He was dressed in a pair of black boxer briefs. His muscles moved in perfect symmetry across his broad back. She resisted the urge to run her hands up his back and around to his hard belly, then lower. Not because she didn’t want him again. There would never be enough of him for her, but she needed to eat. She was famished and she needed to think. Though they’d made love for hours, and he’d managed to take away her worry and despair over Shane, it had returned now with a vengeance. She had to know what had happened to him.

When Marcus turned to face her, she saw not the smile she’d expected but a guarded look.

“What?” she asked.

He set a loaded plate on the small kitchen table, then filled her coffee cup. “Shane was never admitted to Highland Hospital. I checked with the surrounding hospitals, and nothing.”

Jax’s appetite vanished. “He didn’t make it.” She sat down on a chair and stared at her plate. “Then he’s . . .” She couldn’t say it. Didn’t want to believe it. “It’s my fault. I should have been with him, Marcus.”

He squatted down in front of her and nudged her chin up with his fingers. “Would it have been his fault if your positions had been reversed?”

She stared at him for a long time, knowing he was right.

“You both knew how dangerous Lazarus was. How dangerous I was. He went in with his eyes wide open, and it’s no surprise he didn’t win. No mortal should have survived. That you did will go down in the coven’s history books.”

He smiled and traced a finger across her nipple. It puckered beneath his touch. Jax hissed in a deep breath, but this time, her spiking desire couldn’t override her despair over losing Shane or her determination to see Lazarus dead. Pulling away, she swore, “I’m going to kill Lazarus.”

He stared at her, jaw clenching, then stood. “You’ re going to need my help.”

His statement shocked her. “You’ ll help me?”

“Yes. Without my help there is no way you can win.”

“But Marcus, if you do that, you die. You will never have a chance to regain your humanity.”

“I have severed all ties with Lazarus. Any chance I had is gone.”

He’d done that for her. Given up his life. A second time.

“Marcus, get me close to Lazarus. Close enough to kill him. You will live, and somehow we will find a way to give you back your life.” He stared at her as if he did not comprehend her words. “Marcus, I would do anything for you, you must know that. I mean c’ mon, I owe you a couple of lives.”

He cracked a smile. “I suppose you do.”

“So?”

“So, we’ ll do our best.” He pushed the plate at her. “Eat. I’m getting you something to put on or we’ re never going to leave here.”

As he strode down the hall she yelled, “We’ ll do our best? Is that it?”

“Yes,” he called back. It occurred to her at that moment that he didn’t know how to react to her offer and declaration. Knowing his story, she doubted she would either. But she would do more than her best. They would both come through this, and they would both be standing, together, at the end of the day.

In a moment, he was back with a soft blanket, which he wrapped around her. She smiled up at his thoughtfulness and shook her head.

“What?” he grunted.

“I never would have guessed that under those big bad vampire fangs there was such a marshmallow.”

He smiled and traced a finger across her exposed collarbone. “Only for you.”

Jax took the last bite of her meal, then sipped her coffee. “Where are we?”

“Clearlake.”

She couldn’t keep her brows from rising. “Really?” He’d brought her home. It touched her so much; he might as well have taken her home to meet his mother. Given who his mother was, this was better. Speaking of . . .

“Marcus, I think Sophia—”

With a dark look, he shook his head. “No one knows of this place. We’ re safe for now.”

Okay, so obviously he wasn’t feeling sated enough to talk about Sophia Rowland. Jax understood his need to protect himself and appreciated his need to protect her, as well. She couldn’t stay, however. “I can’t stay here, Marcus. I have to find Shane and I have to regroup with my people. We have to eliminate Lazarus.”

“You have to find him first, and I know exactly where he’s going next. He’s going after Senator Bond.”

She sucked in a breath. “The GOP VP running mate?” She remembered Sophia and Senator Rowland talking about the possibility of him replacing Bond. How coincidental was it that Lazarus was now targeting him? Uneasily, she stared at Marcus, who didn’t appear to notice.

“Yes. Tomorrow Calhoun is holding a press conference to announce his pick. We need to get to Lazarus before he eliminates Bond.”

“Why? So that Rowland will step in? I thought he wanted Rowland dead, not—” She closed her eyes as realization hit her. “Oh, shit.”

“Exactly,” Marcus said. “Why kill him when he can be so useful in the White House? Or rather, so useful in getting Lazarus to the White House. Lazarus has gotten power hungry, and that’s not something I signed up for.” He looked away, then back to her. “When the sun sets in a couple of hours, we need to leave.”

“I know.” She studied him and the faintly troubled look in his eyes. And suddenly, before he even spoke, she knew Sophia was involved in Lazarus’s scandalous plan. Still, she certainly wasn’t expecting what he said next.

He looked at her and softly said, “I killed Sophia Rowland.”

Shock made her jaw drop. Horrified, she stood. “What?”

“Lazarus turned her. I had no choice.” He sounded almost defensive. As if trying to make himself less culpable in her eyes.

There was no need. Sophia Rowland had been a monster before Lazarus had gotten hold of her. Still, Jax sat back, stunned. “Why would he do that? Turn her, I mean.”

“They have been an item for some time now. I knew there was a woman. I could sense her. The colonel can be very charming when he chooses. Turning her was probably the only way she’d give up her husband. She wanted the power and immortality the colonel could give her.”

“Even more than she wanted to be the first lady? Because I’m assuming that’s where it would have gone, right? Only, as a vampire, she couldn’ t—?”

He shook his head. “No, not in the traditional sense. But with Lazarus as her maker, she’d have been strong as long as she limited her exposure. She could have claimed she had a sun allergy like solar urticaria. Lazarus often uses that excuse for protecting himself or limiting his exposure to the sun when in public.”

Her mind could barely comprehend what he was telling her. “How did you kill her?”

He hesitated, then thrust his chin out. “The only way I could. I decapitated her.”

Jax grimaced. “Shit, Marcus . . . did you ever love her?” Her voice trailed off as she thought of her own mother. How they’d fought sometimes, but had always been connected by an indestructible bond. . . .

“She gave birth to me, Jax, and deserted me when I was two weeks old. When I was twelve, I ran away to find her. I was so sure she was searching for me. When she saw me and realized who I was, I cannot describe the look of horror on her perfect face. She threatened to kill me if I ever showed my face to her or anyone she was associated with again.” He looked at Jax. “She was a power-hungry, manipulative bitch. She would have eventually destroyed my sister. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Jax let out a long breath and shook her head. But she understood why he’d done what he had. Given Sophia’s plans, Jax would have done the same thing. Slowly, wanting to comfort him but not knowing how such action would be received, she took his hand. “I knew that night at the Green Room. I watched your face as realization dawned on you. It was the first time I felt something other than lust and anger toward you.”

He grinned and released her hand, only to push her back into the chair. “You lusted after me?”

She snorted. As if he could have missed it. She moved into him, knowing somehow that he needed her touch now even more than she needed his. “Yeah, big-time.”

“Good. Because you had me so hard, so fast, I could barely see straight.” He stood up and cleared the table with one quick swipe of his hand, then laid her on top of it. The blanket fell away and he gazed at her body. “You’ re beautiful, Jax.” Her nipples tightened and Jax felt overcome with desire. He traced his finger down her belly and softly said, “Your scar is gone.”

Jax gasped and looked down to her smooth, flat belly. Shocked, she looked up at him. “How?”

He grinned like the cat that ate the canary. “My blood is potent. Not only did it repair the fresh damage to your body, it repaired the old damage as well.”

Jax grabbed his hand and pressed it to her belly. “Marcus, when I was stabbed, my uterus was hacked up. It’s full of scar tissue. The doctors said I would never have a child.”

He splayed his big hand across her belly. “Like I said, my blood is potent. It’s powerful, directly from Lazarus, who was created by Rurik, the father of our kind. Aelia, Rurik’s consort, was a part of my creation as well. Her blood is as strong as Rurik’ s.”

He moved her hands away and lowered his lips to her belly to kiss her there. “Jax, you will be a magnificent mother one day.”

His words were bittersweet. She had always wanted children, but the only man she’d wanted them with was incapable of giving them to her. Or was he? “Marcus?” she moaned as his fingers stroked the inside of her thighs and his lips traveled lower.

“Hmm . . .”

“Can vampires have children?”

His head snapped up and his eyes caught hers. “I don’t know.” He lowered his lips back to her belly and kissed a warm, wet trail south. “Let’s find out.” He took her into his mouth. Jax nearly rose off the table. He slid a thick finger into her, gently moving it in and out of her while his lips trailed just down to the inside of her thigh. She felt his teeth scrape against her artery there. Heat swept her up into a firestorm. She opened wider for him and lay back, giving him all of her.

He took it.

His lips, his tongue, and his fingers whipped her into a fierce frenzy of desire. The orgasm rose high and, just as she was peaking, he sunk his fangs into the inside of her thigh. Jax screamed at the sublime mixture of pain and unadulterated pleasure.

He moaned as he drank from her. His fingers took her higher before she finally crashed back to earth. When he rose above her, his eyes were molten blue and her blood glittered on his lips. “I have wanted to do that to you from the moment I first laid eyes on you.” His body swelled and his cock was rock hard. Jax felt an overwhelming urge to bite him back.

She blinked.

He smiled a devilish smile, understanding what impulse had taken hold of her. He reached over to the counter and grabbed a knife. Before she realized what he was doing, he made a small puncture in his chest right above his heart. Blood oozed out in a slow, thick stream.

He moved above her. She arched up and licked his chest. Marcus moaned and slid his hand around to the back of her head. “Drink from me, Jax, as I have from you. My blood will make you stronger. It will connect us in a way no human would understand.”

Fear skated across her skin. “Will I be like you?”

“No, but this is the first step if you should ever want that.” He spoke confidently, as if he knew what her desires would be more than she did.

Jax nodded, her craving for his blood overpowering her caution. She pressed her lips to his chest and drank. Like the first time she’d tasted him, she felt as if she’d been on a wild, drug-induced high. He was addictive. He filled her body with his, and Jax imploded. The sensation of taking him into her, body and blood at the same time, was euphoric.

He came in a wild burst. She clamped tighter to his chest as he undulated above her. Glorying in the intimacy of their blood union, Marcus’s body shuddered as she licked the last vestiges of blood from his chest. He growled and stood, grabbing her into his arms, then carrying her back to the bedroom.

Almost an hour later, Marcus heard them over the wild beat of Jax’s heart. So did she. A wild whoosh of wind and low, screechy growls. Her head jerked up and she looked at him. Her green eyes snapped with fire and her nostrils twitched. “What are they?”

“Furies.”

“What the hell is a furie?”

“A mortal who was forced against their will to become a vampire. They are crazed with only one purpose. Blood.”

“Holy shit. How did they find us? Lazarus?”

He nodded grimly. “He called upon his telepathy, a forbidden act. It’s the only way he could locate me. Get dressed,” he whispered.

“Why did he send the furies and not come himself?” Jax asked as she pulled her pants on.

“Lazarus is strong, but he can’t be in two places at the same time. He’s going after Bond and sent the furies to slow me down.”

As she finished dressing, Marcus handed her a black velvet bag. He withdrew two silver scythes no bigger than a dinner plate.

He handed them to her. “These are razor sharp. They’ re yours.”

Jax took them. The weight and grip fit her perfectly. She smiled. She could do some serious damage with these. “Thank you.”

Two minutes later, they were dressed and heading out the sliding glass door toward the lake. The sun had just sunk behind the western foothills.

The terrible, high-pitched screeching was closing in fast. “Drown them or decapitate them, Jax, it’s the only way they will die.”

They turned and faced the pack of—they resembled humans, each form retaining its own individuality, but their elongated heads and exaggerated fangs gave them away. There were five of them, all male and all at least two hundred and fifty pounds of pissed-off psycho vampire. Just as they reached the water, Marcus moved first. Turning, he faced them head-on. He leapt up in the air, and two furies jumped up after him. He grabbed each by their hair as they snarled and tore at his arms with their clawlike hands. He plunged them into the lake, the water swallowing them up.

Jax looked at the three remaining guys. They formed a wedge and slowly approached. “Nice vampires,” she murmured. One broke and rushed her. She lowered her body and ran straight toward it. She gripped a scythe in each hand and, in a wide, powerful swipe, slashed at the vampire. It screamed when she cut its head off.

The two other vamps charged her. Jax jumped up in the air just as Marcus had, exhilarated at how easy it was. As she turned in a matrix move, both beasts attacked her. She slashed at one, catching part of it with her blade. As she came down to the ground, she turned and kicked one in the face and the other in the chest. The one closest to her rolled backward and Jax pressed on, slashing at it in wide, powerful strokes until it lay in a mutilated heap.

The other beast bit her hand, forcing her to drop the scythe. That pissed her off. Jax turned and landed a roundhouse kick. As the furie lunged toward her, Marcus emerged from the water. Jax grabbed it and, as Marcus had done, dove into the water with it.

She had always been able to hold her breath. She was an avid diver. Now? With her increased strength, she felt as if she could stay under for an hour. It only took a few minutes before the creature lost the battle. Jax emerged wet and ready to kick more ass. She let out a joyous battle cry.

Marcus was standing on the bank, grinning like a proud parent. “My blood agrees with you.”

“I feel like the Queen of the World. Let’s go kick some more ass!”

He grew serious. “We need to meet with your people. Let’s get back to your hotel room and computer and get this show on the road.”

As they drove west toward the city, Jax called Godfather and gave him the complete lowdown. “You need to get people to Bond ASAP. Calhoun and Roland, too, and get them to a safe house.” She looked at Marcus. “Like a freaking cathedral?” she asked.

Marcus shook his head. “The safest place for them during the day is out in public in the sun.”

Jax repeated his words to Godfather. “Any more word on Shane?” Jax asked.

“No, he was not at the location you gave, but the GPS chip was. He has not been admitted to any hospital in the Bay Area.”

She looked at Marcus and voiced her biggest fear. “Do you think Lazarus has him?”

“I don’t know, Jax, but I promise you: if he’s alive, I’ ll find him. And tell Cross, if he’s holding out, he’ ll have me to deal with,” Godfather said.

“Will do,” Jax said and hung up.

“You and your team are amazing. That guy really thinks he can take me out?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. Godfather is slightly scary. He has the means to so many ends it’s ridiculous.”

“You have a crush on him?” Marcus growled, making her jerk in surprise.

Jax laughed. “Are you jealous?”

He shifted in his seat, looking like he wanted to disappear. All he said, however, was, “Maybe.”

She pressed her lips together, refraining from teasing him more. With a sideways glance, she finally shrugged. “Not a crush in the way you’ re thinking. He saved my life. I’ ll always be grateful to him for that. He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Silence reigned for several long minutes before he spoke again. “What is your real name?”

Her eyes widened. “I’m Jax Cassidy,” she replied without hesitation.

“Before Jax Cassidy. What name were you given when you were born?”

“Angela. Angela Giacomelli.”

“Heavenly messenger. It suits you.”

She shrugged again, pushing away painful memories. “Yeah, more like devil’s deliverer.”

Marcus laughed. “Never. You are an angel of mercy sent to save my soulless self.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

Emotion tugged at her heart. “You’ re welcome.”

As they drove, Jax’s mind raced with thoughts and scenarios. “Marcus, what will happen to you when this Rurik dude knows you were in on Lazarus’s death?”

“Rurik is reasonable.”

“Yeah, but don’t you all have some kind of code that you can’t kill each other?”

“Under certain circumstances, yes, but there are always exceptions.”

Jax gave him a sideways glance, not buying his answer, but she didn’t push it. They made good time to San Francisco. When they strode into Jax’s hotel room, it was wall to wall testosterone—Godfather, Gage, Dante, Dominic and several others. None of them, not even the L.O.S.T. team members combined, could, in her mind, hold a candle to Marcus.

He would always be, for her, the male that would stand out in a roomful of others.

More importantly, she knew she’d never want another man again.

That’s when she knew that Angela was truly gone and Jax was all that remained.

Marcus thought he was going to save her, but in a way he already had, as surely as Godfather had.

She’d be damned if she’d allow anything to happen to him. She’d kill Lazarus and she’d protect Marcus. And if she had to sacrifice herself in the process?

Well, she’d already died once. She’d do it again if she had to.