Blood Mate: A Paranormal Romance (6 page)

He approached her slowly, but
she shook her head back and forth slowly.

With a small, wounded sound,
she raised her arm, pointing the knife at his heart.

“
You...why? Why you?”
she choked out.

“
Bryn,” he said
quietly. “What...”

Her face twisted as she tried
to fight back a sob. “I've always known but I wished...I just
thought...” she whispered. Her words were broken and
fragmented, making no sense to him. But the stark pain in her voice
cut him to the core.

She let out a primal scream to
mask the wrenching sob that had erupted from her chest. In a flash,
she faded into mist and sped towards him at vampiric speed.

Jett could sense her, even in
mist form. He raised his knife just as she materialized right in
front of him.

They stood toe to toe, their
blades at each other's throats.

Everything froze. The room,
the world receded and fell away, leaving them alone in a dark, silent
void.

They stared into each other's
eyes for an eternity.

Jett stared straight into her
shining eyes, unwilling and unable to look away. It was like looking
into a dark mirror.

He saw her confusion, her
anguish, her loneliness, her longing, her crushing, conflicting
feelings for him.

Beneath the hunger and passion
in her eyes, he glimpsed a swirling sadness.

There was a sudden glint of
tears, but she blinked rapidly, determinedly and banished her tears
to a hidden, secret place. And she would never allow anyone into
that secret place in her heart.

In that moment, Jett saw just
how strong and how very vulnerable she was.

Jett felt her blade trembling
against his neck.

You are mine.

But you can never be mine!

Every muscle, every cell in
her body was pulsating and pounding with a frantic, urgent rhythm.
She'd had a taste of his blood. Just one drop. And her worst fear
and nightmare, her deepest want and wish, had come true.

It was true.

How could she face this truth?

Here, standing in front of
her, with his throat proudly pressing against the point of her knife,
was her mate.

Jett Riley.

Her trainer, her boss, her
tormentor.

Her mate!

Bryn could feel her fangs
throbbing as she stared at the column of Jett's throat.
His
blood. Take his blood.

She clenched her knife harder.

Her point of her blade was at
his throat. All she had to do was flick her wrist and she would cut
him.

She would be the first to draw
blood with her blade. She could win this fight.

Focus. And win! Win this
fight!

Her mind was beginning to
whirl and she had to squeeze her eyes shut for a moment.

Why you? Why now?

She'd had a crush on him for
so long. Charlotte had teased her about it, and dared her to act on
it. And one heady night, she had actually been foolish and brazen
enough to take up the dare.

She remembered that mortifying
night clearly. How could she forget? She had marched up to him
after a training session and kissed him full on the lips after
everyone had left. And Jett—he didn't push her away. He just
stared down at her, his entire body so tensed and tightly coiled she
thought he was about to snap. He stood utterly still, his eyes
burning into hers.

And then, without a word, he
just turned and strode away from her.

Just like that.

She'd kissed him, and he
hadn't even reacted. He'd just turned away. She hadn't even been
worth a response, a rebuke. It was worse than a slap in the face.

If he had grabbed her and
shouted, it would have been less insulting, less painful.

Instead, he had just walked
away, like she was...nothing. She was nothing to him.

Charlotte had been watching
and giggling from a distance. But her giggles had stopped abruptly.
Charlotte's open-mouthed look of awe and amusement had quickly turned
to one of horror and outrage.

“
Jerk!” Charlotte
had spat, running up to Bryn's side. “Come on, Bryn, let's go!
Let's go grab a drink. Forget about him!”

That kiss had been nothing to
him, but it had burned her, branded her. She had always been
attracted to him, but after that kiss, she wanted him with a fierce,
almost unbearable ache.

That disastrous kiss had
awakened a gnawing, insatiable hunger in her.

She wanted him and only him.

But he didn't want her.

He'd made that clear.

With her, he was stern, cold
and aloof. But he wasn't like that with everyone. She saw him
laugh, joke, even go out for dinner and drinks with the other
Enforcers. He chose everyone else over her.

Even tonight, he didn't choose
her. He was going to choose someone else. Again.

He would never choose her.

Bryn gulped down another
shuddering breath. She would not cry. Not in front of him. Not
ever.

Bryn blinked hard and glared
at her shaking knife. It was no use. She couldn't do it. She
couldn't cut him.

As she was about to lower her
blade, Jett leaned in and tilted his head very slightly. She gasped
but she didn't have time to jerk her knife away. Her blade nicked
the side of his neck.

She flicked her knife away and
staggered back.

There was a thin but distinct
line of blood down the side of Jett's neck.

She had drawn blood.

Or rather, he had drawn his
blood for her.

Bryn stepped back, shaking her
head slowly.

The entire room was silent.

Bryn sheathed her knife and
turned away.

“
Bryn,” Jett said,
putting a hand to his neck and glancing down at the blood smearing
his fingers. “You win.”

Bryn wrapped her arms around
herself and closed her eyes. She couldn't hear him clearly through
the buzz in her ears. The scent of his blood was making her dizzy.
Her body was thrumming and aching. She wanted him, wanted him with a
mindless, maddening hunger.

But she knew that this hunger
would have to go unsatisfied. He would never take her. He would
never choose her.

“
Bryn.” His voice
was hard, firm, forcing her to turn around to face him.

She turned and scowled at him.
“What?”

“
You won.”

No I didn't.

“
You're on the team.”

She blinked. Really?

This was what she had fought
for. And he had given it to her. Jett had given her this victory,
this chance.

It was the only thing he would
give her.

She would take this chance.

She would prove herself to the
team, to the Council, to him.

Bryn gave a curt nod and made
her way back to Charlotte and Charlene, who were grinning and giving
her the thumbs-up sign. She didn't trust herself to speak. The air
was thick with the rich, intoxicating scent of Jett's blood, fogging
up her mind and sending her body into involuntary spasms.

Some Enforcers smiled at her
and whispered their congratulations as she pushed to the back of the
room and leaned against the wall. But others sneered and snickered,
and she heard churlish, disgruntled comments behind her back.

“
I told you Jett's all
bark, no bite.” A warlock nudged the muscular demon Enforcer
beside him and smirked.

“
He can't bite, stupid.
All he's got are blunt human teeth. No fangs.”

There were loud snorts and
guffaws. “No fangs, no magick, no power!”

The two chortling Enforcers
didn't know what hit them. A flash of silver, and the two Enforcers
stumbled and cried out.

The warlock's blond ponytail
had come undone. On the wall behind him was a quivering knife. A
lock of blond hair was pinned to the wall.

The muscular demon touched the
corner of his long, curved horn. The tip had been sliced off. He
stared at the knife sticking out from the wall. The same knife that
had lopped off the tip of his horn had sheared a golden lock off the
warlock's head.

Everyone turned back to Jett,
silent and subdued.

Jett might not have fangs and
magick, but he was deadly. More dangerous and deadly than most of
the rogue paranormals they hunted.

If the rogues were bad, Jett
was the baddest of them all. But no one had ever accused him of
being unfair. He was fair to everyone, but
her
.

“
Briefing for the IU is
in an hour's time,” Jett said, raking his eyes over his
Enforcers and finding the four members of his investigation unit.
His eyes lingered for a heartbeat on Bryn.

Hardening his features to mask
the worry on his face, he strode to the door and growled over his
shoulder, “In my office. Do not be late.”

The door slammed.

Class dismissed.

The four of them huddled over
Jett's large desk in his office, staring at the photographs of the
murder victims.

As they studied the grisly
pictures, Jett stood up and began to pace around his spacious office.
In a voice devoid of emotion, he went through the three murders one
by one. He was thorough and spared no details.

He told the four Enforcers
exactly what had been done to the victims. Jett suspected that the
victims had been alive when their limbs were ripped off and eaten.
“The killer would have kept them alive for as long as possible.
He ate their limbs first, then dug out chunks from their torso. He
wanted to hear their hearts beating as he ate them piece by piece.
Their hearts would be the last thing he ate.”

“
Why didn't he eat their
heads? I mean, he could have cracked open their skulls and devoured
their brains,” Bryn observed.

“
He wanted us to
identify them,” Levi answered with a scowl.

“
Yes. This is a hate
crime,” Jett said, handing out a long list of suspects. “This
is a list of the rogues we have apprehended and destroyed in the last
few years. This is by no means exhaustive, and you'll have to dig
deeper, go further on your own. But...my hunch is that the killer is
not related to anyone on this list.”

They were to work in pairs,
and Bryn had glad to be paired with her old partner, Scott. When the
briefing ended, Scott stayed back to talk to her.

“
You up for this?”
he asked. His tone was jovial, but his blue eyes were searching and
appraising.

“
Oh yes!” she
chirped. “I'm going to nail these shits. Literally. I'll
nail their hides to the wall and cut them up, nice and slow.”

Scott clapped his large hand
on her shoulder and sighed. “Stick with me, kiddo. Don't jump
headlong into trouble. Wanna join us for a drink?” He nodded
at Levi and Jeanette, who were waiting for them down the corridor.

“
Um, I...” Bryn
stammered and dragged her feet.

Jeanette pushed off the wall
and stopped in front of Bryn. The witch stared at Bryn for a long
while, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. She squinted at
the air around Bryn, and gave her a knowing smile.

Bryn took an involuntary step
back and gulped.
She can see my aura!

She knew that Jeanette was
reading her thoughts and intent clearly in color. That clever witch
would see right through her.

With a wink, Jeanette turned
and linked arms with Scott and Levi. She steered the two brawny bear
shifters forcefully towards the lift. “Let's go, guys. Bryn
is busy,” she sang. “She has other plans tonight.”

“
She has?” Scott
twisted round, looking surprised.

“
Yes, she does,”
Jeanette said firmly and bundled the two big bears into the lift. As
the lift door closed, Bryn saw Jeanette mouth,
good luck!

Just what did that witch see?
What did she know?

Jeanette must have seen
something in her aura. And her aura ought to be flaming red right
now. She was feeling rather hot and very, very bothered.

There was a lot on her mind
right now, but there was only one person she wanted to see.

She turned around and walked
back down the quiet corridor. All the training rooms were dark and
empty.

The whole floor was now
deserted. Some of the lights further down the corridor had already
been switched off.

Bryn stood in front of the
door to Jett's office and took a deep, long breath.

Jett was still in his office.
He hadn't left.