Night Haven Read Online Free

had. And he could tell them immortality meant nothing. He was already the same ash he would become once he finally found the guts to face the sun.
    Ignoring the aching of his insides, Luke watched to see if pink-striped hair on the bottom would let a vampire drain his life away. The whiff of blood teased at his senses. Once more he thought of those gold eyes and that clean musk of female desire, dark and beautiful. He used the memory of her to keep insanity away.
    He closed his eyes for a short second, let her wash over him as he kept a keen focus for any sounds of struggle. There were none of course, but still he waited, a part of him hoping he could help.
    Her fragrance grew stronger, edgier. As if he conjured her, the bloodwolf burst out of the shadows, made a slow move to plunge her knife into the curved back of the vampire, only to be swatted away as if she were a fly.
    Silent, Luke watched her regain her feet, slow, graceful yet sluggish, as if her balance didn’t add up and her body refused to listen. Fluid, she reared up, sent the vamp backwards with a weak snap-kick to his jewels. The knife gleamed in her hand, a short and wicked blade extending from between two of her fingers. It sliced through empty air.
    Her hands were clenched, her face a mask of crazed serenity. She would change now, he imagined, turn herself into the wolf that flowed inside her blood. Luke waited for it, tensed for it, knew she would smell him, and he wouldn’t lift a hand against her even if she ripped him up to pieces. He knew it as much as he breathed.
    Except she remained standing tall, as if waiting for the vampire to fly at her, tear at her flesh with angry teeth and hands. Luke’s vision was already dark when he smelled blood rising above the blur of senses.
    He moved without thinking, felt his muscles sing as he ripped the vampire off her. A short, cracking jerk broke the vamp’s neck and Luke watched it fall onto the hard November dirt. Somewhere, the teen scrambled away, taking his sloppy whimpers with him.
    The bloodwolf lay unmoving on the ground, the soft curves of her chest rising and falling with each harsh breath she took. The eyes that locked with his were dark and gold and desperate.
    She bled—a nasty rip over her shoulder that tore through fabric and skin.
    “Get up.” He kept his tone quiet, afraid to move closer to her, afraid the beast inside him would take over. And yet, somehow, the scent pumping from her—blood, desperation, pain—soothed almost as much as it grated.
    “You up for round two?” Tough voice, weary eyes.
    Luke didn’t know why he found the combination so alluring. “You’re hurt.”
    She touched a fingertip to that soft mouth and wiped at her own blood. He followed her motions with his eyes and wondered how the hunger didn’t shred him.
    “Try it.” The words didn’t have much punch as she got up—or rather hauled herself up as if by will alone. She faced him, bleeding, tired, beautiful.
    For once, the craving didn’t demand instant satisfaction. He didn’t want her blood. He wanted to devour all of her, her fragrance, her skin, her vulnerable and defiant mouth. “I could’ve tried last night.” A pause. “I didn’t.”
    She shook her head at that. Luke wondered if she knew she had a tiny pulse inside the fragile hollow of her neck. He wondered what it’d taste like when he licked it.
    “You can’t shift, can you?” He kept his voice quiet, flat. “You walk around bleeding, every vamp in the city will want you.” He sure as hell did.
    “Is that a threat?”
    “You tell me, bloodwolf.”
    Those fascinating gold eyes narrowed. “I’ll handle it.”
    “Find one of your kind to take you home.” If only to protect her from him. The usual hunger was nothing compared to this craving to devour her. All of her.
    Her chin jerked up. “I got this to protect me.” She lifted her fist, the knife gleaming like a flipped-up middle finger. His body hardened more as Luke barked out a