His claws sliced right through the vest-like apparatus on the boy's torso. The bomb dropped to the floor. The hum became a beep. Julian caught the kid by the nape of his neck and threw him at Rose. "Get him out!"

The explosion erupted, the flames shooting out behind him, throwing him into the air, sending him hurtling toward Rose. He saw the terror in her eyes.

Then he saw the flames, surrounding them. Going for her.

Flames can kill a vampire. "No!" Julian roared.

But it was too late. The flames were too hot.

The fire came for him. He kept running for Rose even as the flames burned his skin.

The fire came for him...and for her.

Chapter Four.

The water was cold. Wonderfully, perfectly cold. Cold and dark. Rose kicked up and broke the surface, sucking in a deep gulp of air.

Only she hadn't exactly come up alone.

A certain panther shifter had his arm wrapped tightly around her stomach-his hold was pretty much a death grip.

"Take another breath," he growled at her, water streaming from his dark hair. "Again, love. f.u.c.king again."

And her starved lungs greedily drew in the air. As soon as she had that second breath, his lips crashed down on hers. He kissed her wildly, desperately, and the need she'd tried to push down so deep inside of herself flared to life. She wanted- His mouth tore from hers. "Thought you were burning in front of me."

She'd thought the same thing. But...

She smiled at him even as she kicked to tread water. "Thank goodness for super speed." Because as the fire had raged all around them, consuming everything in sight like a hungry beast, she'd hauled a.s.s up those stairs. And she'd grabbed her panther by the wrist on her way up.

Wait. Stop the thought. He is not your anything. Get that straight.

"Goodness...right. That's what we should thank." But his lips had twisted.

"Are you...are you hurt?" Her voice was husky and she didn't know if that was because of the all smoke and flames that had been on the boat or because she had a weird urge to seduce the guy.

"Few burns. They're already healing."

Right. Shifters healed so fast.

"What about you?"

She was staring at his mouth again. Adrenaline had her feeling shaky. Adrenaline and maybe desire. "Fine." A few blisters. Nothing that wouldn't heal.

"Good, that's-"

"Help me!"

Her gaze jerked to the right. The Pandora was there-and still burning quite brilliantly. Flames were shooting into the sky and probably attracting all sorts of attention. And that desperate, terrified "Help me!" cry had come from beside the boat.

Only...

The guy who'd uttered that cry had just slipped below the water's surface.

And Julian was simply treading water with her and watching the fellow drown.

Fine. I'll save him myself. She surged toward the human, but Julian pulled her back. "No way. We're getting out of here before this place becomes a circus scene." He began swimming away from the dock. And away from the drowning human.

"We're helping him!" She shoved against Julian, but he didn't let her go. When it came down to a battle of strength, unfortunately, his trumped hers.

d.a.m.n shifters.

"Julian, no, he's just a kid!" He was a kid who had disappeared beneath the surface of the water and who had not resurfaced.

"He's the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who just tried to kill us both," Julian snapped back. He kept swimming and dragging her away from the burning boat and the dying boy.

Not a boy. He was probably around eighteen. Maybe nineteen. And he'd looked so scared on the Pandora.

"You have got to stop trying to save people who want you dead," he continued, not even sounding a bit out of breath. As if they hadn't just hurtled out of a burning boat and dropped into the ocean. "That's just gonna come back and bite you in the a.s.s if you don't."

Her heart slammed into her ribs-and she slammed her elbow into Julian. He grunted, as if surprised, but his hold didn't loosen.

"He's dying!"

Julian stopped swimming. His gaze met hers. "He was going to kill you. That means to me...he is dead."

But she shook her head. We're wasting time...time that human doesn't have. "You cut the bomb off him. You were trying to save him. You might pretend to be some heartless bad-a.s.s, but you're not. You saw a terrified kid, same as me, you saw-"

He jerked her even closer, smashing her body against his. "I was trying to cut through the wires and stop the bomb, not save the jacka.s.s."

She blinked. Was that true?

"I am a heartless bad-a.s.s. You need to remember that s.h.i.t." His jaw hardened. "Now we're getting the f.u.c.k out of here. This place was a trap. I need to regroup and figure out what the h.e.l.l is happening."

"I can't leave him." It was her human side talking, the side she hadn't been able to kill. The side others hadn't been able to kill, either. "Please, Julian, just get him out of the water. Or let me go so I can get him. I'll make a deal with you." Her words tumbled out because the kid was gone. Sinking to a watery grave. "I'll give you anything you want, just-"

"Deal," he said flatly.

And just like that, he let her go.

He sank beneath the water, seeming to drop like a stone. One moment, he was there. The next, he was just gone. She spun around, looking for him, then she dove under the water, heading toward the general direction that she thought the human was in. The water was dark and murky, and there were no stars out, there was only the waves, only the ocean stretching and- Julian's eyes. Julian's glowing, golden eyes.

He was in front of her. And he had the human. Julian caught her wrist and they kicked toward the surface. Then they were moving-so fast. She used her own speed and strength to help Julian. They didn't swim back to the dock, but instead they traveled to a small beach just a bit down the sh.o.r.eline. Julian carried the boy out, and the fellow wasn't moving. He hung like a rag doll in Julian's arms. Julian dumped the boy on the beach.

"A deal is a deal."

She scrambled toward the human. Was he even breathing? She put her fingers to his throat. Rose didn't feel a pulse. She put her ear next to his mouth. There was no stir of air. And he felt so cold. G.o.d. They'd gotten him too late.

She started CPR, pushing down with her compressions. She'd just counted her tenth compression when- He choked up air. Yes! He choked and sputtered and seemed to vomit out water as he turned onto his side. He was alive. They'd saved him and- And Julian already had his claws at the kid's throat.

"Julian, seriously, give the guy a minute." But she kept her voice low. They weren't that far from the flames. Other humans were over there. She could hear their voices. It wasn't as if folks could just ignore flames shooting into the sky-that show had attracted plenty of attention.

And attention was a bad thing in the paranormal world.

"Who are you?" Julian's voice was cold and hard as he glared at the kid.

The human trembled.

"I don't ask questions twice." His claws cut into the guy's skin. "Remember that."

"F-Francis Haddow..." He licked his lips. "Friends...call me Frankie."

"Do I look like I'm your f.u.c.king friend?"

Francis shook his head.

"Why the h.e.l.l did you try to kill yourself and us?"

Francis's eyes ballooned. "What? No!" His body trembled. "No, no, I-"

Julian yanked him up and pointed toward the flames. "You see that big ball of fire over there? You did that, mate. You set off a bomb on the Pandora. You nearly killed yourself and you tried to take us to h.e.l.l with you."

"OhmyG.o.d." Francis shuddered. He couldn't seem to stop shuddering. "No, no, no. I was just at a bar, I used my fake ID, I got inside and then..." His eyes squeezed shut. "I don't know what happened, I swear, I don't know!"

"You were mumbling your 'Simon says' bulls.h.i.t constantly and now you want me to buy that you don't remember-" But Julian broke off. Then he swore. A lot. And his British accent got thicker.

A sign that wasn't good. She'd learned that. Usually, his accent just flowed lightly beneath his words-like when he called her love. But when he went all clipped with his voice...she knew that meant trouble.

"Nice one, you dodgy b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Julian glared at the flames in the distance. "Nice one."

Uh, from where she was standing, there was nothing nice about it.

Julian pulled the human up by the scruff of his neck. "You're coming with us, Francis."

"No!" Francis was almost yelling. A bad thing considering they didn't want to attract any attention. "I'm going home." He tried to run.

Rose winced because she knew that plan wasn't going to work out for him.

It didn't. Francis made it maybe two feet before Julian's fist plowed into his face...and down Francis went. He was out completely.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at Julian. "Did you have to knock him out?"

"Absolutely." Water still dripped down Julian's body. His shirt clung to his chest like a second skin. He scooped up Francis as if the kid weighed nothing and threw him over his shoulder. "Can't have him running, not when I need more answers."

She rather wanted answers, too.

"Come on," Julian said as he strode down the small beach. "I've got a friend nearby. He'll take us to safety for the night."

Safety. She could use a bit of that. But... "Exactly where is this safe house?"

"You're not going to like the answer."

"I like very little about this night."

He kept walking. "It's Luke's house."

Her eyes squeezed closed. Luke. Luke Thorne. Luke...AKA the Lord of the Dark. The guy who controlled every dark paranormal creature in the world. She was pretty sure he might just be the devil, but she'd always been too afraid of the man to actually ask that question. She did know certain very scary facts about the Lord of the Dark.

He was the most powerful dark paranormal being in the world. No question. Period.

And he'd been able to bring her back from the dead. He'd used some kind of black magic to turn her into a vampire.

The third thing she knew about him? He terrified her.

"I'm not going to Luke's place." He had an island nearby. His own private slice of paradise-or, well, h.e.l.l considering what he was. Luke didn't like to be near the humans so he generally kept to himself. And woe be unto the person who tried to disturb his sanctuary. "I can't see him."

"Relax." He'd stopped walking, just for a moment. "Luke isn't there. He's gone with his lady love. He and Mina vanished to an undisclosed location for the next few weeks. They wanted some quality time. You don't have to worry about him."

Had he seriously just said Luke had a "lady love" right then? And that the guy had jetted away for quality time? "He can't love anyone."

Now Julian looked back at her. "You think because someone is called...evil...by the rest of the world...you think that automatically means the person can't love?"

When it came to Luke, yes. She did believe that. Rose nodded.

"He'd die for Mina. He'd give up all his power in an instant-for her." He stared at Rose. "Even the most powerful beings have weaknesses."

She glanced toward the flames. Fire. That was her weakness. Luke had been the one to warn her that if she ever burned to ash, she was dead, forever.

"Let's go. The boat is close by and I am done with this f.u.c.king night." He turned once more.

And she found herself hurrying after him. He was her paranormal protection, right? So she'd stay close, for the moment.

Besides, she didn't exactly trust him not to hurt the human. Julian could be unpredictable, thanks to his beast side. If he was going to interrogate Francis, she intended to be there. Someone had to keep the panther in check.

They walked in silence for a time, until they approached what she thought was a private house. Only Julian didn't go into the house. Instead, he headed for the dock behind it.

"Marcos!" Julian's voice rang out. "Get the boat going, now."

A man appeared, rushing out to untie the boat. Her gaze darted to the side of the vessel. Devil's Prize. Oh, jeez...that had to be Luke's boat.

Julian jumped onboard and dropped the human onto the deck. He just let Francis fall with a thud. "Probably going to need to tie him up," he muttered as he studied the human with narrowed eyes. "Marcos, toss me some extra rope."