Heart Of Stone

  As if she feared that something bad was chasing her.

  Hunting her.

  I’m not hunting you, sweetheart. I’m protecting you. Not usually his gig, but he owed Luke.

  Sabrina’s car turned right at the stop sign. Then she squealed away. But…Another car followed immediately behind her. A big, dark SUV that almost seemed as if it had been waiting for her.

  Adam spared a quick glance around him. No one was watching. Typical. Humans were always fully involved in their own lives. He lunged up and over the balcony railing. He hurtled through the air, and seconds later, his feet touched the ground. Adam’s knees didn’t even buckle. He brushed off the shoulder of his tux, straightened his tie, then he handed his own ticket to the valet. Soon, his ride was ready. A dark beast of a bike, its engine growling like a wolf. The motorcycle was totally out of place in the middle of all those expensive rides.

  Like he gave a damn. Adam climbed onto the bike. His fingers reached for the handle bars. He revved the engine a little more. Then he gave chase as the motorcycle shot forward into the night.

  The muse needed protection. She was going to get it.

  Whether she wanted him or not.

  ***

  Luke was jerking her around. Sabrina should have expected it. Luke and his games…He never stopped. She’d been foolish to think he would actually help her.

  Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. Her heart wouldn't stop racing.

  Adam. The stranger had said his name was Adam. Adam Cross. She’d never heard the name before, and Sabrina didn’t remember ever meeting the mysterious Adam in her very long life. He would be a hard man to forget.

  Dangerous. Deadly.

  Sexy?

  Why did she always fall for the bad ones? Why did she take one look at a guy like Adam and think yes, please? He was definitely tall, dark, and handsome. His hair was thick and a little too long. His eyes…gazing into them had been like looking straight into darkness. His nose was a bit hawkish, and his lips oddly sensual. His jaw had been perfectly square and cut, and a faint cleft had been placed right in the middle of his chin. She’d wanted to lick that indention. Such a wrong response.

  A much better response? Her urge to flee as soon as she saw his aura.

  Auras. Most folks didn’t believe in them. Sabrina wasn’t most folks. She’d been seeing auras since she was a child. It was kind of a muse thing. She saw the auras that clung to a person, and those auras told her things. Things like…

  If a guy named Mike had insane artistic vision.

  Or if a fellow going deaf could actually make the most incredible music imaginable.

  Auras showed her passion. They showed her promise. They showed her what could be. But they also showed her pain. Loss. Fear. Everything that a person felt? It was in the aura.

  Good. Bad. All that crazy stuff in between? In the aura. Madness. Brilliance. All there.

  Most auras gleamed with lights. But Adam’s had been different. No light for him. Just darkness. So much darkness.

  A human would never have an aura that looked like his.

  The bright glow of headlights suddenly filled the interior of her car. Automatically, her gaze jerked to her rearview mirror. “Jerk,” Sabrina muttered, but the word was more reflex than anything else.

  If anything, the lights seemed to grow brighter. Or maybe…The other car was just coming closer. Her hands tightened even more on the wheel and her foot pressed down harder on the gas pedal. But she heard a revving growl, and before she could escape, the other car slammed into her from behind.

  Sabrina screamed. Again, it was a reflex action.

  In the next breath, she was hit again. Even harder. She couldn’t keep her car on the road. Her headlights flashed across the nearby trees, and then Sabrina’s convertible was slamming into one of those trees. The impact was jarring. Hard and brutal. Her airbag exploded and sent a cloud of white toward her face. The seatbelt jerked against her, and Sabrina heard the sound of shattering glass. Then…

  Silence. Just the frantic pounding of her heart, filling her ears. Her breath raced from her. She shoved against the airbag and turned to peer out of her window. The other driver…Was he still there? Was he coming for her?

  Adam had taken her knife. She was alone. She’d been hunted for so long. Tonight, she’d made a fatal mistake. She’d run from Adam, fearing what he could do to her. Maybe…Maybe she shouldn’t have run from him. Maybe she should have run to him.

  Sabrina could see nothing in the dark. She didn’t hear the other car. Didn’t hear the other driver. She grabbed at her seatbelt, fighting to get free. She was a sitting duck in the car, and she knew it. She had to get out. She had to get away.

  Did she smell gasoline? Oh hell, she did. And the seatbelt was stuck. It wouldn’t unhook. The front of her car was smashed into a tree, and the back had been smashed by that asshole driver. “Help!” Her cry was too low. She tried again. “Help!”

  But she feared the only help out there…Might be the other driver.

  Was it him? The man who’d made her life hell recently? The man who’d made her so desperate that she’d turned to Luke for help?

  Then she heard it. A low, deep growl. One that seemed to be getting closer. Her breath heaved from her lungs as fear iced her body.

  The growl died away. Then…

  I’m being hunted.

  Sabrina wasn’t like other paranormals. Most of them could see perfectly in the dark. Not her. When it came to night vision, she was pretty much on a human’s level. Probably had something to do with her seeing auras. Since she saw auras, she didn’t get any other vision bonuses. So she couldn’t see who was out there. Only the dark. The dark terrified her.

  Where was a cop when she needed one?

  The car shook around her. And then, above her head, there was a low, grinding sound. A ripping. A tearing? She looked up and saw what appeared to be knives cutting through the fabric of her convertible top. She didn’t waste her breath on a scream, not then. Sabrina leaned across the passenger seat and strained, trying to reach for her glovebox. She had a big, heavy duty flashlight in there. Not much of a weapon, but it would work. Maybe. It would—

  The top of her convertible was torn away. She hadn’t reached the flashlight. The seatbelt held her trapped. Oh, dammit, in terms of paranormal strength, she was physically weak. She was—

  “Sweetheart, I thought you said I wasn’t the man you needed.”

  Adam’s voice. Adam was the one who’d just cut through the convertible’s top. Only he hadn’t used a knife. He’d used claws. Those same claws were cutting through her seatbelt. They were heavy claws, wickedly sharp.

  Shifter. That was what he was. Mystery solved.

  His claws came at her.

  Chapter Two

  The muse had a scream that would probably break glass. And Adam happened to have extremely sensitive hearing. Sweet hell. What is she trying to do? Adam covered Sabrina’s mouth with his hand, stopping her mid-scream. “Do you want to burst my freaking eardrums?” he snarled.

  Her mouth pressed to his hand. The feel of her lips against him…Damn, this was so not the time to get a hard-on for the muse.

  But at least she’d stopped screaming.

  Carefully, he lifted her from the car. Cutting through the fabric of the convertible’s top had been the easiest way to free her from the wreckage. His claws were gone now, but they would come back later. They always did.

  He carried her away from the wrecked car, and then Adam set Sabrina on her feet. But he didn’t let her go. He kept his hands around her shoulders as he scanned her body, looking for any sign of injury. “Are you hurt?”

  Sabrina shook her head. “Bruises, nothing major.”

  His jaw locked. “What in the hell happened?”

  Her gaze shot around the area, as if looking for a threat. “Some jerk slammed into me from behind. I lost control of my car and hit a tree.” She tried to pull away from him. He wasn’t in the mood for that shi
t, so he just tightened his hold on her.

  “There wasn’t another vehicle here when I arrived,” Adam said.

  She tried jerking away again. And failed.

  Her paranormal strength was really rather pathetic. He’d faced off with stronger humans.

  “He was here,” Sabrina huffed. “It’s not like I crashed myself.”

  “You were drinking at the ball, you had a champagne flute when I first saw you—”

  “For show,” she snapped, cutting him off. “My metabolism is wonky, okay? I can’t handle alcohol, not at all. Bad things happen when I drink.”

  He filed that tidbit away for later. “Come on.” He turned her and pushed Sabrina toward his waiting motorcycle. Time to get someplace safe.

  But then the muse dug in her heels.

  His eyes squeezed shut as he grabbed for patience. I’ve never had much of that shit.

  “I’m not just going to get on that motorcycle and ride away with you into the night! That’s not how things work. I know you’re trouble. I’ve got enough of that and I can’t—”

  Sighing, he just bent and lifted her over his shoulder. The woman needed to eat more. He could barely feel her weight. She struggled against him, but he just tightened his grip. Then they were at his bike. He put her on the seat and clamped a hand around her shoulder when she tried to immediately scuttle away. “Do you want to die?”

  Her long lashes—seriously, they were insanely long—covered her eyes.

  “Because I thought you wanted to live. I mean, wasn’t that the whole point of going to Luke? You wanted protection? The best he had?”

  Her lashes lifted.

  He smiled. “You’re staring at the best.” Yet she was still refusing him. Didn’t make a damn bit of sense to him. “Why go to Luke if you’re just going to run from the guy he sends to help you—”

  “Your darkness is too strong.” She licked her lips.

  His cock jerked. Lust rose. The dangerous kind. I want that mouth of hers on me.

  “When you fall for me, it will be bad. Very bad.”

  It took a moment for her words to register and when they did…a deep, rumbling laugh escaped Adam. The kind of laugh that shook a man’s whole body. The kind of laugh he hadn’t experienced in, well, centuries. He could actually feel his eyes even starting to water.

  When you fall for me…

  He climbed onto the bike in front of the muse. He kicked up the stand. Then he glanced back at her. “Sabrina…” He tasted her name. It was the first time he’d said it. Adam rather liked the way it felt on his tongue.

  Bet I’ll like the way she feels on it, too.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m not falling for you.”

  Her gaze held his. “You won’t be able to help yourself. It’s who I am…what I am. I’ll get into your head. I can inspire you do to great things or terrible things. Since you have so much darkness already…I know which way you’ll go.” Her lips pressed together.

  Terrible things.

  “I’ll work my way under your skin. At first, you’ll feel…strangely good when I’m near. Like you’re on some kind of high. Everything will seem better in your life. Like it’s all finally fitting together.”

  They needed to get the hell out of there. The other vehicle was gone, but that didn’t mean the driver wouldn’t come back. Adam didn’t hear anyone else close by, didn’t smell anyone else but…

  It’s not safe out in the open.

  Yet Adam stayed exactly where he was. Why? Morbid curiosity. He needed to see just where she was going with her tale.

  “When I leave you, even if it’s just for a bit, even if it’s just long enough to go to dinner or shopping…that’s when the cracks will start. You’ll feel like you need me close by. The inspiration? It will turn to obsession. You’ll have to keep me near. You’ll want the rush that only I can give to you. I’ll be your drug, and you will do anything to have me.”

  She sounded so confident.

  As if all of that had happened to her before…many times before.

  He was partially turned toward her. Her hand lifted and pressed to his chest. “It will begin in here. Your heart will beat for me. It’s what I do. I get to my prey. I’m supposed to help them, but someone like you…the inspiration will be wrong.”

  He could feel the heat of her touch even through his shirt. The drumming of his heart seemed too loud. And her scent…

  Adam cleared his throat. “Obsess a few men in your time?”

  “The obsession is the reason I’m in my current mess.” Her lips twisted, but she didn’t stop touching him. “I inspire certain guys straight to madness.” She hesitated, then said, “Some guys just have a hard time letting go of a good thing.”

  “But you aren’t good, are you, sweetheart?”

  Her gaze searched his. “Why do you keep calling me sweetheart? You don’t know me. I’m nothing to you.”

  “The way you talk…you could be everything to me.” He waited a beat. “In time.”

  She pulled her hand back. “Just take me to Luke, okay? I’ll work out a new deal with him.”

  “Not happening. Luke’s slipped away with his lady, and he didn’t exactly leave contact information behind.”

  Her lips parted. “But…but he knows I’m in trouble! That I need help! I went to him, I offered him a trade—”

  “Right. You did.” Adam could see the flash of headlights in the distance. “I know the terms.” He turned to face the front. The motorcycle revved beneath him. “Protection. Maybe death…you wanted a killer.” The bike rocked forward. “And you got one.”

  “But—”

  “Put your arms around me and hold on tight.”

  Her arms lifted and wrapped around his waist. “I warned you…”

  Adam smiled grimly. Yes, you did. And then he took off.

  ***

  He hadn’t intended to kill her. Killing Sabrina Lark wasn’t part of his plan. But he’d wanted to give her a reminder. Wanted to shake her, to scare her.

  I can get to you. At any time. Any place. No matter how far she fled, he could find her.

  She would never be free of him.

  He’d left the wreckage. Left her. And he’d gone back to the charity ball. Sabrina had been there before, and he liked to retrace her steps. It was one of the things he did. A way to be closer to her.

  Sabrina had changed his life. Showed him the brilliance that he’d always possessed, but he’d just been too afraid to really let himself go. Until her.

  He didn’t have fear any longer. He just had determination.

  He’d unlocked the power inside of himself.

  A woman smiled at him. She had blonde hair. Pale blue eyes. Sabrina’s eyes weren’t pale. They were bold. Bright. Spell-binding. But the woman’s hair was the same shade of Sabrina’s.

  This woman wore red. A blood-red gown. She held a champagne flute in her hand. Her breasts were spilling forward, pushing the boundaries of that gown.

  She was pretty. Sexy.

  And coming his way.

  He tilted his head and waited. If this was what she wanted…if he was what she wanted, then the blonde would get an unforgettable night.

  She stopped in front of him. Licked her lips. “Are you here alone?”

  No, Sabrina is always with me…just as I’m always with her. That was how it was for some people. A connection that went soul deep.

  “I’m alone.” Her smile stretched and invited. “But I don’t want to be that way.”

  So he said what was expected. “A beautiful woman like you should never be alone.”

  Her breath whispered out. Faint color stained her cheeks.

  He offered his arm to her. “Why don’t we go someplace quiet and talk?”

  She took his offered arm, and her breast pressed against his sleeve when she leaned in close to him. “Lead the way…”

  He would.

  He’d lead her straight to hell, and there would be no going back.

  ***

/>   “This isn’t my place,” Sabrina said when Adam finally stopped the bike. He’d taken them down to the beach, to the long line of condos that seemed to shoot straight toward the sky. “I’ve got an apartment I was using just on the edge of Miami—”

  “Yeah, I saw it earlier. Not the safest place.” He pointed to the building behind them. “I’ve got a condo on the top floor. Luke got it for me. All the fucking comforts of home.”

  Doubtful. Not the comforts of her home, anyway. “I need my place. I need my clothes. I need—”

  He drove them toward the parking garage. Paused only long enough to key in his entry code and then they were heading up the ramp. Her hands were still tight around him. Her gown had hitched way up. She’d had to hitch up the damn thing so it wouldn’t get caught in the back wheel. She was pretty sure she’d flashed the world during their drive, but Sabrina wasn’t overly bothered by that fact.

  Modesty was not a big muse trait.

  He braked again. She jumped off the bike and hurried back a few steps. The parking garage was cavernous and…well, empty.

  “New building,” Adam said as he took his time climbing off the motorcycle. “I’m the only tenant.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is this Luke’s building?” Because the Lord of the Dark was rich as sin and had holdings all over the world.

  “Um, and get this…”

  Um…Was that a yes?

  “I think he might only rent to paranormals. That’s the plan he’s considering. He designed the place specifically with paranormals in mind. The building holds extra weight, has windows that don’t let the sunlight inside, oh, hell, it’s got all sorts of interesting little bonuses in place.” His lips quirked. “Luke thinks having a paranormal-only high-rise condo building is a genius idea. I think it’s a clusterfuck waiting to happen.”