“It’s not happening,” Eve said into the silence that filled the car. She knew exactly what Cain was planning, and the guy needed to think the hell again.

He shot her a fast glance from the corner of his eye.

“You’re not dumping me and going after Wyatt on your own.” Right, like she hadn’t seen that one coming from a freaking mile away. This was not her first ball game, not by a long shot. “We’re in this together, remember? I’m not about to sit on the sidelines now.” Not when things were finally coming to a head.

The road had passed in a blur of yellow and white lines and asphalt, but she’d known exactly what Cain had been thinking. She’d seen him try to slow at a few motels during their road trip.

Looking for the right spot to dump me? Not happening.

“You go with me,” Cain said, “and you die.”

Trying to scare her. He didn’t get it. She was already plenty scared, and the fear changed nothing. “I’ve been dodging death since I was four years old.” Maybe it was easier to confess because of the darkness that filled the car. “That’s when my parents died. When vampires killed my father and a fire took my mother away from me.”

“Eve . . .”

“The fire spread through my house. Burning everything but me. I remember screaming and crying, but the flames wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t do anything but watch them . . .”

Mommy. Daddy!

She choked back the memory and tasted ash. “I hated fire after that.” Her gaze slid to him. Still do. But she’d stayed next to Cain anyway.

What did that say about her? Drawn, pulled, to the one thing she hated most.

“I’m . . . sorry.” His words seemed rusty.

“So am I.” Her whisper. “Vampires took my family away. They took everything from me, but I didn’t let that stop me.” Not during all those long years she’d spent alone. Bouncing from one foster home to the next. They’d said she couldn’t connect with the families. That she didn’t know how to bond. That had been bull, and she’d known it even as a kid.

I just didn’t want to risk loving someone and losing them again. Sometimes, it was better, safer, to just not care at all.

“You’ve helped. Done your part.” He seemed to be gritting out the words. “There’s no need for you to face more danger.”

“Trace is my friend.” For a while, the only friend she’d had. “I have to—”

“I’ll get the wolf out for you.” The car sped faster. “Don’t worry about him.”

Anger? She frowned, not expecting that. “Trace . . . he’s a good guy, Cain.” Once you looked past the snarling surface. “He helped me, I helped him.” So many times.

“You . . . care for him.”

“Yes.”

His jaw locked.

“But we’re not lovers.” She should have put that out there sooner. A vein flexed in Cain’s jaw. A lot sooner. “We never have been. Never will be.”

The fast look he fired her way was full of surprise.

“He’s my friend. That’s all.” You’re my lover. She’d gotten too close with Cain, too quickly. After only a few days, he didn’t know what she was really like. How could he? Maybe he thought she just made a habit of jumping into bed and having really hot sex.

She could straighten him out easily. “Cain, I’ve had four lovers in my life.” Eve frowned. “You’re the fourth. This thing with us”—the wild, hot sex, the need that couldn’t ever seem to be filled—“hasn’t happened to me before.” It was important that he understood that.

He pulled off the main road. Headed toward the no-tell motel nestled near the edge of the woods.

Dropping me off?

Her jaw clenched. “I can make my own way to Beaumont, you know. Leaving me here—it won’t stop me.”

He stopped the car. Turned off the lights.

“I’ll be right on your tail. I’m not going to just—”

In an instant, he had her in his arms. His mouth was a breath from hers. “I’m glad there were only four . . . though I’m damn tempted to hunt down the first three.”

Wait. What?

“I want you, Eve, the way I haven’t wanted anyone or anything ever before.”

Her lips wanted to tremble into a smile, but the harsh look in his eyes had her holding still. The gearshift pressed into her leg.

He held her tightly against his chest. “You can make me weak,” he growled in the dark interior of the vehicle.