Grace by Mina Carter Page A

bleeding, he’d have bled out onto the floor there and then. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. Believe me; I didn’t want it to end like this.”
    He risked a glance back at her to find her looking at him, her green eyes confused. “What did you just say?”
    “I said I didn’t want it to end this way.” He rose to his feet, not bothering to conceal the fluid grace in his movements anymore. A small smile touched his lips. She’d have made a wonderful vampire, so beautiful and elegant. Pain raked through his chest, like someone had dumped a bucket of hot coals onto his dead skin. It hurt to even look at her.
    He turned to go. Dawn would be here soon; he’d just go and wait for it. That way he wouldn’t have to move once the sorrow that yawned like a chasm in his chest claimed him. He started to walk away, his footsteps measured. Dead man walking. He finally knew how that felt.
    “Jaron, stop. I didn’t mean that part.”
    There was a scuffling behind him but he didn’t turn around, just stopped and turned his head to indicate he was listening.
    “What did you say before that?”
    “What? That I love you? Pathetic, isn’t it? The hunter in love with his prey. You can scream now; I won’t hold it against you.”
    “Why would I scream?”
    Her small hand touched his shoulder, surprising him. He hadn’t heard her move. With his blood in her, she was vampire silent. “If you’d wanted to kill me, wanted to drink my blood, you’ve had plenty of opportunity before now. But you haven’t. I figure I’m probably safe.”
    Jaron laughed, the harsh sound reverberating around the empty space. “Oh sweetheart, you’re far from safe with me.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    He shook his head.
    “Why today? Why today of all days are you being so damn stubborn?” he asked, every line of his body rigid with tension. All he wanted to do was haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless, claim her as his own. Bury his fangs in the soft skin of her neck and wash away the taste of the thugs blood with the sweet ambrosia he knew flowed through her veins. Hold her close to him as she drank directly from him, not from a vial.
    “Coward,” she taunted softly. “Face me and tell me you’ll hurt me. Look me in the eye before you bite me.”
    Jaron’s control snapped. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he rounded on her. His hand lashed out and caught in her hair, wrapping the flame red curls around his hand as he dragged her flush against his hard body. He yanked her head back, his lips hovering over the creamy flesh of her throat as he crouched over her.
    “And now, Gracie?” he asked, grinding his pelvis against hers. He was already rock hard, just the thought of sinking fang had him rigid. Ready to fuck her. Fuck and suck, the preferred method of lovemaking for a vampire. “Sure I won’t hurt you now?”
    Her hands were on his shoulders but to Jaron’s surprise they weren’t pushing him away. Instead she was …stroking him? She ran her palms over the muscles of his upper arms and shoulders as if she couldn’t get enough of him. She couldn’t look at him, not with the way he had her hair wrapped in his fist, the way he held her body rigid. Her back was as taut as a bow between his hands. It wouldn’t take much to snap her spine; human bones were so fragile.
    He released the pressure on her hair bit by bit, keeping his hand in the silken curls but easing up so she could look at him. Her eyes were dark as they met his, her hands still soft and relaxed on his chest.
    She smiled a soft, mysterious and feminine smile that did things to Jaron on a primal level. Woman, the eternal mystery. She was in his clutches, a vampire she’d just seen ripping five men apart and she was smiling?
    “I’m sure. You won’t hurt me, you won’t bite me. You’re just a big teddy bear.”
    Jaron bared his fangs and snarled a little but it was all bluff. She was scared; he could see that, sense that. But behind it all