Chapter 24
MARCUS
I’m midway through emptying a bag of powdered ash around the perimeter of the house when I feel it.
Danger.
My mate is in danger.
My head jerks up. My fangs lengthen. I vault the wall before I remember I can flash, then disappear into the mist and appear in the back garden.
Every sense is primed, my head swinging wildly, the slayer’s blood pumping through my veins in a potent cocktail of power and magic. I can take on whatever enemy is here. A snarl builds in my chest, then dies.
I find no enemy. Instead, I find Leah, her fist closed around one of her throwing knives. As I watch, she releases it. Blood coats the blade. My nostrils flare.
“You.” She unsheathes another knife. “Lied.”
I snarl in truth now. This is a trick. A trap. She hurt herself deliberately. Rage rises, all the more potent for the open-ended bond. It pulses hot under my skin, demanding that I claim her and tie her to me and keep her safe.
She throws the knife before I have time to react. I snatch it out of the air and stalk forward.
Her eyes narrow. “You’re bigger than before.” She steps back, and my gaze sharpens.
“All the better to stalk you with,” I growl. It’s her blood powering me. I’m gaining muscle and height. Soon, I’ll have to claim her or I’ll have to walk away.
She yanks a stake from her belt and rushes me, so fast that she’s nearly a blur. I grab her around the waist and tumble to the ground, cradling her head in my palm to soften the blow.
She slashes with her stake. I pin her wrist to the damp earth. She shoves at my chest, and I drop my hips, grinding against her.
“You will not hurt yourself,” I snarl.
She tries to head-butt me. “Get off me.”
I bare my fangs in her face. “Not until you swear not to put yourself in danger.”
“Hazard of the job,” she spits.
A rumble rises in my chest.
“Don’t growl at me, vampire.”
“Don’t be foolish, mate.”
Her gaze ices over. “You admit it. Why didn’t you tell me? Were you planning to bind me without my consent? Turn me, perhaps?”
She tricked me. She pulled me to her, just as my sire used to yank on the bond. Just as I was chained to a wall.
“Never,” I snarl. “I don’t want a mate.”
Her nostrils flare. “I don’t want you either.”
That’s not what I said. I swallow the words. “Good. We’re agreed. We aren’t sealing the bond.”
“I would rather die,” she growls. “Now let me up. I have a job in town.”
Reluctantly, I push off her. My fangs throb with the need to claim her, and my skin feels too tight.
I cannot breathe, and my body only warms when feeding, and I feel the lack of those things acutely.
What I wouldn’t give in this moment to be human, to be soft for her, to tell her that I would try to be with her.
If only I were not me.
“I have a rabid kelpie to kill,” she mutters. “I don’t have time for this.” She gathers her weapons from the ground. I silently pass her the ash stake.
“Do not put yourself in danger, mate.”
She tosses her head angrily. “Try me, vampire. You show up when I’m on a job, and I’ll use you as a Halloween decoration.”
Just another reason I can never seal the bond with her. If she dies, I die too. And she is so fucking breakable.
I snap my fangs at her. “You just bought yourself a guard dog, slayer. Get used to it.”