Part 5 (1/2)

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 s.h.i.+fter 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. s.h.i.+fters 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 s.h.i.+fters.

”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, smas.h.i.+ng 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.