Free Twisted by Gena Showalter Page A

with need, utterly intoxicated. And he’d hated himself. He recalled that, too.
    Also, he’d hated her . Or at least, a part of him had.
    That part of him must have grown, taken over. Because, looking at her now, so lovely and serene, he wanted to grab her arms and shake her. To hurt her as she’d hurt him. To punish her for what she’d done to him.
    The urges surprised him. What had she done to him? Besides try to turn him into a vampire. Besides feed him and feed from him. Besides fight him to survive. All of which he understood and accepted.
    â€œAden?” She wiggled her wrist.
    The moisture in his mouth heated and burned, demanding relief, demanding…blood. He recognized the sensation and was leaning toward her before he registeredthe fact that he was moving at all. Just before he sank his teeth into her skin, he stopped. What was he doing? He needed blood, yes, but not hers. Hers was dangerous. Addictive.
    Shaking, he pushed her arm away—the part of him that still craved her screamed in protest. Her skin was warm, and though not as hot as before, he tingled where they’d touched all the same. He wanted to be touched again and again and again.
    Focus on the human. “You,” he said, nodding to her. He refused to fall under another girl’s spell. If he did, he might not recover. There was no way anyone would affect him the way Victoria did. Surely. “Do you want to feed me?”
    That dark gaze at last zoomed in on him. “Y-yes.”
    Truth or lie? “Are you nervous?”
    â€œOf you?” She shook her head with conviction, but her subsequent stuttering contradicted the motion. “N-no.”
    She wasn’t scared of him, but she was scared of something. That wouldn’t stop him. “Good. Come here.”
    Riley and Victoria shared a long, dark look. More than a look, actually. He knew Riley was pushing his thoughts into Victoria’s head, and shrugged. Let themsay—or not say—what they wanted. Nothing would change his decided course of action.
    Finally Victoria nodded, moved backward, and the wolf shifter gave the human a little push in Aden’s direction. She scooted around the princess, remaining out of striking distance, and Aden suddenly comprehended the reason for her upset. She feared Victoria .
    Smart of her. Victoria watched her through narrowed eyes, poised to launch into an attack at any second. Were they enemies? No, they couldn’t be. No one was more protective of Victoria than Riley, and the wolf never would have let the human through the door if that had been the case. So…what was the problem?
    Only when the girl was at Aden’s side did she relax. She curtsied, grinned. “What can I do for you, my king?”
    He didn’t allow himself to study his vampire and her reaction to the girl’s query. “Let me have your arm.”
    Instantly she reached out. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist. It was thicker than Victoria’s, with a little more meat under her skin. As hot as Aden’s body temperature now was, the human felt chilled.
    He absorbed her scent, testing it. Sharper than what he craved, he mused, with more spice than sweetness,but he could deal. Already his stomach was twisting, knotting. He urged her closer…opened his mouth…
    â€œWait. You’re going to hurt her,” Victoria snapped, beside the girl in the blink of an eye and jerking her from Aden’s hold.
    The human gasped and trembled.
    Aden growled, even as the scent of the vampire stirred up some kind of animal inside him. A wild thing, cohabitating in a place where there was no room for emotion, only instinct honed on a battlefield.
    Mine, that wild thing said.
    Never yours, the other part of him hissed.
    â€œYou don’t have fangs.” Victoria raised her chin. “So, like I said, you’ll hurt her. I’ll bite her and—”
    â€œ I’ll bite her.” Fangs or not, he