She was about to unlock the door when she realized she wasn’t alone. A sliver of icy fear slithered down her spine as a man dressed in black materialized out of the shadows and stepped into a pool of light cast by the streetlamp on the corner.
Sara took a step back, every instinct she possessed warning her to run, to scream, but all she could do was stand there, as if held by some invisible power.
Travis couldn’t stop staring at the woman. She was lovely. A riot of sun-gold curls fell over her shoulders. Hazel eyes, as wide and frightened as those of a doe caught by surprise, stared back at him. He could hear the beat of her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest, smell the sweet nectar flowing through her veins, the fear on her skin.
He hadn’t meant to frighten her. “I’m sorry,” he said, releasing her from his thrall. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Sara blinked at him. He looked harmless. Had she imagined that odd sense of power that had held her spellbound? He wasn’t much taller than she was. His hair, thick and blond, brushed his collar, his eyes were a deep, dark brown. She shook her head. “It’s all right.”
He smiled at her. “Maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee as a peace offering?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I hope I see you again.” A friendly wave of his hand and he walked away.
She waited until he was out of sight, then quickly unlocked her Chevy and slid behind the wheel. Driving home, she had the weirdest feeling that she would see him again.
Keeping to the shadows, Travis followed the woman. She lived in a small white house with bright yellow shutters only a few blocks away from where she worked. He watched as she pulled into the driveway and hurried into the house.
She really was a pretty thing, but it was more than her appearance that drew him, though he couldn’t have said what it was. As a hunter, he’d had little time for women or serious relationships. As a vampire, he’d had even less. Unsure of himself, afraid of inadvertently doing or saying something that would give him away, he had avoided contact with women—except for those he preyed on. But he didn’t want to prey on this one. He just wanted to know her better.
Drawing closer, he opened his senses, nodded when he didn’t detect anyone else inside. Since she hadn’t worn a wedding ring and there was no lingering scent of a man —or anyone else—on the premises, he assumed she was single and lived alone.
The thought made him smile because he was determined to see her again.
But for now, he needed to hunt.
Shannah rolled onto her side, her fingers tracing random patterns on Ronan’s chest. He lay quiet beneath her roving hands, his eyes closed. She loved him with every fiber of her being. He had saved her life, showed her a world she had never dreamed existed. “It’s been four months,” she remarked. “Do you think he’s all right?”
“I really don’t give a damn.”
“You sired him.” Her lips followed the path of her fingertips. “I still think it was terribly cruel to turn him out with no one to guide him.”
“He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”
“But …”
“The man was a hunter,” he said irritably. “He knows enough to survive. He’ll learn the rest. And if he doesn’t …” He twitched one shoulder.
She couldn’t really blame her husband for his uncaring attitude. Jim Hewitt had attacked Ronan without provocation, fully intending to destroy him. Still, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for the hunter. He had seemed like a nice guy and she felt partly responsible for what had happened to him. Believing that Ronan was a danger to her, Hewitt had tried to warn her off. Poor man. No doubt he was feeling lost and alone as he tried to adjust to being a vampire. It couldn’t be easy, being cut off from family and friends, forced by circumstances to learn how to navigate his new life on his own. She frequently wondered where he was and how he was doing. “Is he still alive?”
Ronan turned onto his side and studied her through fathomless eyes as black as midnight. “Why do you care?”
“I don’t know. I just do.”
With a huff of impatience, he opened the blood link that bound the fledgling to him, a link that could be broken only by death.
“You can stop worrying,” he said curtly. “He’s alive.”
Travis’s head jerked up, the woman in his arms momentarily forgotten as he felt the blood link open between himself and his sire. Why now, he thought, after all this time? But before he could put the question to words, the link was gone.
Frowning, he turned back to his prey. The urge to take it all, to glut himself with his prey’s blood, was a constant temptation. Thus far, he had managed to keep his seemingly insatiable lust for blood under control—forcing himself to take only what he needed and not what he wanted. He knew, on some deep, instinctive level, that it would be easier to control his hunger if his sire had stayed with him, to guide him. Not that he could blame the vampire for abandoning him. He had tried to destroy Ronan, after all.
Travis grinned ruefully. He had done what hunters do. He supposed he should be grateful the vampire hadn’t killed him. But tonight, with the craving for blood burning hot and strong within him, he didn’t feel grateful at all.
Chapter 3
Sara slept late the next morning. Now that she had decided to open at three in the afternoon instead of ten a.m., there was no rush to get ready for the day. She took a long, leisurely shower,
