Warring emotions danced on Wesley’s face as he glanced from her to the witch and back. Mistrust won out. Could she really blame him? After what he’d told Kimberly about his mother, it was natural that he hated vampires. Which meant he hated her.

“Here.” The witch tossed Wesley a stake. He caught it in one hand. An agonizing moan from his brother made him turn.

“Hav, didn’t I tell you not to fight her?”

“I didn’t fight her,” Haven pressed out. His voice was labored, the pain clearly evident in it. Yvette stole a look to assess his injuries again. The gashes on his abdomen were still bleeding, and if the blood loss wasn’t stopped soon, she feared the worst. Despite the fact that he’d kidnapped her and Kimberly, she couldn’t just let him bleed out. Only to spite the witch, of course.

“Time to go, little one.” Stepping over the threshold, the witch crooked her finger at Kimberly, whose eyes widened in shock.

“No!” Yvette cried. She couldn’t allow her charge to be harmed. She was responsible for her. It was her job. “Don’t touch her.” She lunged forward toward the witch, but a power blast pushed her back.

“Stay out of it!”

“Somebody help me,” Kimberly wailed as she was pulled toward the door by an invisible force.

Wesley ran toward her, but like Yvette, he was pushed back by an invisible blast. “Whatever you do, don’t fight her!” he cautioned Kimberly.

When the witch grabbed Kimberly’s arm and pulled her over the threshold, the force field holding Yvette and Wesley back dissipated. Both stumbled.

Yvette watched the witch slam the door shut. Could she only exert her powers within the protection of the wards? Could this mean that if they were inside the wards, the witch had to be inside them too in order to use her powers on them? Yvette tucked the assumption away in the back of her mind. There were more pressing things to do right now.
Ten

Wesley’s harsh voice bellowing out a warning to someone brought Haven back to reality. He forced his eyes open and knew he was back in the room where they were being held captive. Nothing had changed. Except for the fact that he was in pain.

He lay on the floor and tried to sit up, but the pain around his midsection made him slump back instantly. His brother was kneeling next to him, the haunted look on his face providing little comfort. When his field of vision widened, Haven saw the stake that Wesley held tightly in his right hand.

“What the—”

“She’s hungry, and you’re bleeding,” Wesley cut him off.

Haven jerked his head and saw Yvette standing several feet away from them, her eyes trained on him. Would she attack him?

“Shut up, Wesley, and don’t keep repeating the crap the witch has fed you. I’m fine,” Yvette insisted. “I’ve fed plenty. I don’t want your brother’s blood.”

Haven locked eyes with her and for a moment he believed her, but then he saw a glint in them, like a little flame that started burning, and he knew she was lying. Yvette was hungry. His gaze drifted down her body where her hands clenched into fists. Hungry, and fighting it. Which side was stronger? Her humanity or her animal instincts?

“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath.

She’d heard it. He could tell by the way she dropped her lids. God, she was beautiful. A beautiful angel of death, yes, that’s what she was. Yet, instead of feeling fear of what was to come, he felt a strange excitement build in his core. Almost as if he was looking forward to her bite. It told him how far gone he was already. Maybe the injuries Bess had inflicted were indeed deeper than he’d thought at first. He knew he was bleeding profusely, but was the blood loss to blame for his addled brain? For the fact that he was craving Yvette’s touch even more than he had at the premier party? That he wanted her to come closer and embrace him?

“Wesley, I need to—”

Wesley jumped up at Yvette’s words, his raised hand holding the stake as a warning: stay back. “You’re not getting anywhere near him.”

“I won’t hurt him. I can help him heal.”

A bitter laugh left his brother’s chest. “How stupid do you think I am?”

“Do you want your brother to die?”

“No! And that’s exactly why you’re not getting anywhere near him.”

Bless his little brother. Wesley would protect him even though he knew he was no match for Yvette, the strong and beautiful Yvette, the sinful beauty, the deadly vampire whose touch Haven desired against all reason. Was he already drifting into a delirium?