Arctic Fire 2 by Erica Stevens Page A

over the edge. Breaking his hold on her shoulder, his head fell back as his heart continued to beat out a riotous tempo within his chest.
    He pulled her against him as he lost himself to the pleasure of her body.
    ***
    “If he would listen to reason, he would see it’s a good plan,” Quinn said and actually stomped her foot on the ground.
    Julian folded his arms over his chest as he watched her. It was rare that her composure slipped, but the whites of her eyes had turned red, and the red encircling the outer rim of her irises leapt and danced like actual flames.
    “Wow!” Melissa breathed and Julian realized it was the first time they’d actually seen the enchantingly strange phenomena of her eyes. Having been born a half-vampire and a Hunter, Quinn had possessed a lot of power before she’d made the transformation into full vampire; it showed in the color of her eyes now.
    “Astounding,” Luther remarked.
    Quinn frowned at Luther before focusing her attention on Julian once more. “It’s the best way to accomplish anything,” she insisted.
    “Putting your life on the line is far from the best way to accomplish anything,” he replied.
    “It’s a good plan, and you know it. If it was anyone else, you would allow it to happen.”
    “But it’s not anyone else,” he said. “It’s you, and I’ve sensed how badly this man wants to get his hands on you. I’ve sensed his thoughts about you, and the depraved things he anticipates doing to you.” She paled, but her chin remained thrust out in defiance at his words. “I won’t allow it to happen. Do you really think he’s going to fall for it, if you go prancing around all alone in the desert?”
    “And what would you suggest I do, prance around my job and this apartment while he slaughters more families? I don’t know how many families there are with three children in them in this town, but I can guarantee none of them are safe. And that’s only if he decided to keep going after families with those numbers. He’s made his point; I’d guarantee almost everyone is fair game now.”
    “She’s right,” Chris said.
    Julian’s eyes snapped toward him. “This doesn’t concern you, Christopher.”
    “But it does,” he said. “It concerns all of us. Believe me, I know how testy you vamps can be when your mates are threatened. I saw it firsthand with Cassie and Devon. I really don’t want to see it with you. You’re already a little scary at times, but your alternative is to let more people die. Possibly a lot more.”
    “You’re making the mistake of thinking I put anyone’s life ahead of hers,” Julian growled.
    Chris’s eyes narrowed on him. Quinn stepped forward and waved her hands at him to break his stare with Chris. “Mates?” she inquired when he looked at her.
    “I told you about them before, Dewdrop.”
    “Yes, I remember, but us?”
    Julian shot Chris a fulminating look. Chris held his hands up innocently and shook his head. “I assumed you were with how close you two have been. I could be wrong. I don’t think I am,” he muttered in an aside to Melissa.
    “Neither do I,” she whispered back.
    “Do you think we’re mates?” Quinn asked Julian.
    Julian tried to figure out the best way to answer this. In the end, he went with the truth. “We are.”
    Quinn’s mouth dropped open; she closed it again as the red faded from her eyes. “Oh. I, uh… Oh.”
    “Just the response every man wants to hear when a woman is informed she’ll share her life with him,” he said, hoping to coax a smile from her and ease some of the strain from her face.
    Finally, a small smile tugged at her mouth, but she still looked as if a freight train had sideswiped her. Walking over, she perched on the edge of the couch. “We can discuss it later,” he assured her.
    She turned to look at him with her eyebrows drawn together. Chris, Melissa, and Luther grouped closer together. Lou and Zach eyed the door like it was their only hope.
    “I saw what