Free On The Prowl by Cynthia Eden Page A

She traced them and her heart grew heavier in her chest. “How many people has he killed?”
    “That’s a question for him, not me. I already did my over-sharing part for the night.” Then his hands were on her waist and he pulled her back from the doorway.
    She frowned at him.
    But he just gave her his slow smile. The dimple winked again. “Told you, there are plenty of other bad things out there. Let’s not go drawing them in by dangling bait in front of their faces.”
    “So I’m bait now?”
    “No, you’re Julian’s vamp. Thought we went over that. So if someone comes at you, he’ll freak and there will be a battle I’m not in the mood to stop tonight.” He nudged her toward the hallway. “Go that way. Get changed. Sleep. When you wake up, Julian will be back. Minus his more beastly side.”
    She took a few steps toward that hallway. Then, unable to help herself, Rose glanced back at him. “He’s…talked to you? About me?”
    Rayce laughed. “He’s told me as little as possible.”
    Oh.
    “But sometimes, you don’t need words to see the truth. And I see how he looks at you.”
    Her throat went dry. “How is that?”
    “Like someone who has been in hell…and just had a glimpse of paradise.”
    No, he was wrong. Julian did
not
look at her like that.
    “Sweet dreams, vamp,” Rayce said.
    She turned and shuffled down the hallway. Her dreams were never sweet. They hadn’t been since she’d become a vampire. She only had nightmares. Visions of herself dying—getting shot as Julian stared down at her in horror. Visions of being trapped in a tiny cell. Hunger. Pain.
    Death.
    No, there would be no sweet dreams for her. There never were.
    She stopped in front of the third door on the right. Rose opened the door and stepped inside. Not a room, but a suite. One with heavy, cherry wood furniture. Dark, thick curtains hung over the windows. A massive, four-poster bed had been positioned right in the middle of the suite—
    A bed that had claw marks on its wooden posts. Eyes widening, she rushed toward the bed. Her hand lifted and she traced the marks, just as she’d traced the ones on the door frame before.
    Julian’s claw marks.
    Julian’s room.
    She turned around.
    Rayce stood in the doorway. She hadn’t heard him follow her.
Shifters can move way too quietly.
He was staring at her, a slightly apologetic look on his face. “Yeah, sorry about this…but I
am
going to lock you in for the night.”
    “
What?”
    “And the room has been—well, let’s just say it’s been enhanced so that paranormals can’t get out. I mean, when Julian has his bad nights, we can’t have him busting loose. So vamp strength won’t help you. Julian wanted you safe for the night and that means we can’t risk you running around where the wild things are. So just shower, change into one of his shirts, and have those sweet—”
    “I don’t have sweet dreams!” She ran for him.
    He jerked the door shut before she could grab him. Rose heard the faint click of a lock sliding into place. She tried wrenching the door open. She tried slamming her body into the wood.
Vamp strength. Vamp. Strength!
    But nothing happened. Because the tricky jerk was right…there was some kind of enhancement in place. Still, she didn’t give up.
    She screamed and pounded against the door.
    She couldn’t be trapped. Not again.
    She couldn’t be prisoner.
    Not again.
    ***
    The pretty vampiress slammed into the door once more. Rayce winced when he felt the vibrations of the wood. “Uh, Rose? If you hurt yourself, Julian is only going to be pissed at me.”
    Her answer was another slam against the door.
    “It’s just for tonight.” Maybe. He could lie easily. “I know you don’t like being prisoner, okay? I heard what the ONS did to you—”
    “
Let me out!”
Her shriek easily carried through the wood.
    “But we’re not ONS. We’re not—” He actually had to catch himself there. He’d almost said
We’re not the bad guys.
That