Anyone who kept him from what was his would die.
Conrad couldn't risk tracing to her—she was a moving target in the fray. Can't take my eyes from her for a split second. Sprinting faster, fighting harder—
He suddenly stumbled, feeling as if a mine had just gone off under his feet. Righting himself, chin down, he charged for her once more.
Another explosion; he tripped forward, losing sight of her for a moment. What the fuck is happening?
His lips parted as he comprehended. Thunderous bomb blasts again and again.
Néomi... it's her.
A rhythm to the echoing boom—his... heartbeat. Conrad was hearing his heartbeat for the first time in three hundred years.
Mine! Even as he ran, Conrad felt a savage triumph. His lungs began to expand, waking. She was bringing him back to life. Just ten feet away from her, one more obstacle—
His body was tackled to the ground with the force of a freight train. Strong hands gripped him, hauling him to his feet. Two demons had him. Néomi was watching agape. Safe for now.
Weak... can't shake them off. Vulnerable for precious seconds while he transitioned. Can't break free.
'A red-eyed Fallen in New Orleans,' Cadeon the Kingmaker said as he stalked in front of Conrad. 'You're the one who drained the warlock dry?'
Conrad's chest heaved as he sucked in air. With each breath, his strength returned and then some. Power such as he'd never imagined began erupting throughout his body. 'Be more specific, Cadeon,' he sneered. 'There were several.'
'We've been looking for you, vampire.' The demon's eyes turned wholly black, and his horns enlarged and straightened with menace. But he wouldn't completely hit a rage state.
Conrad heard Néomi murmur, 'Mère de Dieu.' And Cadeon wasn't even close to a full turning. Usually when one beheld this demonic sight, one was about to die. Yet Conrad was finally catching his breath, and his heart was thundering with readiness... .
He flung his arms out, hurling away the ones holding him. Then he lunged at Cadeon. He fixed his hands around the demon's throat, clenching with all his newly blooded strength.
Power roared through Conrad's veins. Red covered his vision. The need to drink and kill was undeniable. There was no going back from bloodlust—his brothers were wrong. He'd done evil; he always would. He slammed Cadeon to the ground, stunning him.
Conrad could smell the demon's blood, could hear his heart. More power, here for the taking. Instinct ruled him. He gripped Cadeon's forehead, yanking his head back to bare his neck.
Cadeon's skin began to darken to a deep red. His upper and lower fangs grew. The demon was finally turning, but it was too late... .
'Conrad, don't.'
He glanced up to meet Néomi's wide-eyed gaze. Conrad knew exactly what he looked like to her, with his fangs dripping, his eyes glowing and frenzied as he craved blood. 'Now you know what I am.' He lowered his mouth to finish this.
'Now I know what you were. Conrad, please take me home.'
The need to protect. He hesitated at the demon's neck. Stronger than the need to kill.
If you saw me in bloodlust, you'd think me a monster.
Conrad hadn't been exaggerating. If Néomi didn't know him, she would be terrified. But she did know him, and recognized that he'd restrained himself for her.
Here was Conrad at his most frightening, and all she felt for him was pride and tenderness—
Suddenly Cade took advantage, bashing his head against Conrad's so hard his skull had to be singing.
Then the other two demons were back, attacking him at once... .
Without her telekinesis, she was powerless to stop them. Others in the crowd had ceased their own sparring to watch this clash. They were abuzz that the fallen vampire wasn't drinking and that the rage demon hadn't turned fully.
As Rydstrom and four more rough-looking males closed in on the fight, he asked her, 'You know this vampire?' Suddenly, the others with him had a sinister air, their eyes all turning black.
When they advanced, Néomi swallowed. 'I... only s-socially.'
'You're his Bride, aren't you?'
Am I his Bride? Whispers sounded all around her; beings scrutinized her with new interest. Why?
She retreated a few steps, and when Rydstrom's crew continued after her, she turned to Conrad. He was still contending with all three of his attackers. 'Conrad!' she cried.
He was in front of her in an instant, arm shoved back to yank her into him. His body was a heated mass of muscle, his broad shoulders rising and falling with breaths—
Breaths?
She laid her ear against his back. His heart was pounding. I blooded him!
'A new liability, Wroth?' Cade asked, wiping his forearm over his bleeding face. 'Introduce us to your Bride, then.'
'If you think to harm her,' Conrad grated, 'then you invite your own end.' He grasped her upper arm, pulling her beside him.
Néomi swallowed when some of the females gave her sympathetic looks. What do they know that I don't? What will he do to me?
This was an immortal assassin who'd just been denied a kill. Denied because of her. She could see a feral, possessive light to his eyes, along with a deep rage, as if not slaying those demons had taken something from him.
No one wanted to challenge him—a vampire protecting his Bride. He cupped his hand on the back of her neck in a show of possession for everyone to see. 'Mine. And I protect what's mine.'
Then... they disappeared.
28
When Conrad traced them to their room at Elancourt, he didn't say a word, just stared down at her. Rage mingled with desire in his expression, both so intense she shivered alternately with fear and need.
He released her, stalking around her, his gaze raking over her body. She turned as well, until they were circling each other.
'How did you come to be like this?'
'I have ways, Conrad. Maybe I'm not as friendless and pitiful as you thought me.'
He gave a bitter laugh. 'Pity is the last thing I'm feeling for you, koeri.'
'What are you planning to do with me?' she asked.
'You're soon to see.' His low voice rolled over her—she could swear she could feel it rumbling.
They continued circling, almost as if in a dance. Her long-dormant senses had already been flaring to life, and with every second, she grew more deeply aroused. 'Why were some of the females regarding me with sympathy?'
'They think they know what's about to happen to you. You're the Bride of a fallen vampire denied a kill.'
Things were going on in his mind that she couldn't understand. All she knew for certain was that he was more animalistic than any man she'd ever known. 'What do they think will happen?' She believed Conrad would never intentionally hurt her. But he did alarm her. He was unspeakably strong, and her new body was so vulnerable.
'That I'll throw you to the ground and shove myself between your legs, taking your neck in a frenzy.' He sounded as if the very idea excited him. Without warning, he seized her upper arms, dragging her to his body.
'Let me go, Conrad!' She could feel his erection growing, pressing against her belly. 'What are you going to do?'
'I'm going to claim my Bride. You've been given to me—to me alone! It was you that I wanted.' He fisted his
