Rush of Darkness Read Online Free Page B

you’re getting into, I’m not letting you do this alone, Raine.”
    Anger burned in the depths of her eyes. “At the risk of repeating myself, you don’t have any choice, McConnell.”
    “Don’t be so sure about that,” he drawled with a heavy dose of pure, masculine arrogance, knowing damn well his words and tone were going to piss her off even more. And for some dumbass reason, that temper of hers was really setting him off, to the point that he couldn’t help wondering what she’d do if he tried to kiss her.
    When his gaze dipped to her mouth, she drew a swiftbreath, her voice almost guttural as she warned, “Try it, soldier boy, and I’ll rip your bloody throat out.”
    Excitement vibrated along his nerve endings, bringing a fresh surge of heat beneath his skin. He’d thought she was fascinating before, but now… Christ, his head was spinning from trying to figure her out. She was so much harder than she’d been the last time he’d seen her. Angrier. Even more complex. But still as beautiful as ever. He couldn’t stop staring at the plush shape of her lower lip, loving the crease that ran down its center. He was entranced by the color, the curves, the texture….
    Gotta taste her, he thought, his breathing heavy, head dangerously thick with lust that he fucking knew was going to land him in a shitload of trouble. But he couldn’t wait, months’ worth of hunger suddenly bearing down on him, impossible to resist . His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath of her scent, and before he could think better of it, Seth crowded in on her, flattening one hand against the wall at her back, caging her in, her other side blocked by the broad back of a male who was chatting up some redhead beside them. As he started to lower his head, the music faded away, the annoying crowd forgotten, his pulse roaring as he drew close. Closer…
    Then she lifted her knee and nailed him right in the nuts.
    Pain doubled him over, his stomach twisting as a violent wave of nausea swept through him, and he went to his knees, hard, using everything he had to keep from blacking out. She’d used considerable more force than he would have thought a woman her size was capable of, butthen, the Deschanel were known for being exceptionally strong.
    When his vision finally cleared, Seth sucked in a rough gulp of air and lifted his head, ready to give her absolute hell…
    But the maddening little crossbreed was already gone.

CHAPTER THREE
    T WO MORE SECONDS. Just two…and his mouth would have been on mine. Those firm lips. Warm, clever tongue…
    As the disturbing words whispered through Raine’s mind, she made her way down a deserted, moonlit street, lost in a daze, the rain pelting against her cold face, already blocks away from the club. She couldn’t believe that Seth McConnell had come after her. Could believe even less that he cared enough to worry about what happened to her. After all, she’d seen the gruesome killings he’d made against her kind in the name of the Collective Army.
    But when he’d been staring at her in the nightclub, none of that had mattered. His eyes had burned with that same hot, soft glow that she remembered from the days after he’d helped rescue her from Westmore back in early February, and she’d practically melted.
    The compound had been located in the middle of the Deschanel Wasteland, a cold, desolate realm where exiled vampires were sent for punishment, as well as one of the deadliest places on earth. The journey had been hard, and yet, McConnell had cared for her the entire way, watching her with that same burning look whenever he’d cut open his arm and collected a cup of his blood forher to drink. And even though it wasn’t anywhere near as sweet as it would have been from his vein—which he’d made clear was not an option—his taste had still been enough to…concern her. It’d been too good. Too…right, somehow. Almost as if his flavor was the perfect match for her most primal