They’d cut the head off the snake, but the beast still lived.

Sabine lifted her delicate wrist to his mouth.

The blond lunged for her. “Sabe, no!”

Her shoulders tensed. “It’s not like I haven’t done this before, Rhett.”

Ryder’s lips parted over her wrist. His teeth scraped over the delicate skin.

“Don’t do it!” Rhett snapped. “You put those teeth in her, buddy, and I’ll put a stake in your heart!”

A little late for that, considering he’d put his teeth into her several times before. But, right then, for this time, Ryder didn’t let his teeth sink into her skin. He could almost taste her blood . . . that addictive flavor that was only his Sabine. But drinking from her . . . with her brother’s furious stare on them . . .

No.

When he drank from Sabine, he wanted to f**k her. His bloodlust and his physical lust were too closely bound with her. And they would save that particular reunion for later.

When her brother wasn’t glaring at them.

With an effort, Ryder pulled her wrist away from his mouth. “I’ll feed in private.” Which was code for . . . Get these ass**les out of here, Sabine. He wanted to talk with her alone. There was much, much to say.

Things that didn’t need to be spoken of in front of such an avid audience.

“You’re not doing anything in private.” Her brother narrowed his gaze on them. “Since when did you start hanging with vampires, Sabine?”

He heard the soft whisper of her breath, then her voice came, low and tight. “Since I became one.”

Rhett’s face went white with shock as he rocked back on his heels. “No!”

But she nodded, rather miserably, and wouldn’t meet her brother’s gaze.

Rhett turned his fury on Ryder. “You did this to her.”

Not a question.

And also, not wrong. So Ryder squared his shoulders and agreed. “Yes.”

The human could move fairly fast. Rhett spun away. Shattered a nearby chair, and came up with a chunk of the wooden leg held tight in his fist. “I’m killing you!”

He didn’t want to hurt her brother. Hurting him would only make Sabine angry.

But Ryder also wasn’t in the mood to get staked.

“Would you have been happier if I just let her die?” Ryder asked. He didn’t mention the part about Sabine just coming back when she died. Her brother was freaking over a bit of vampirism. Ryder wasn’t sure the man was up to handling the truth of a phoenix’s death. He also didn’t want to be the one to tell her brother about all that Sabine had suffered.

Rhett loved his sister. That fact was plain to see. It was the reason Ryder hadn’t already taken that stake away from the guy—and shoved it right into Rhett’s own chest.

I don’t take kindly to the threat of a stake in my heart.

If the man hadn’t been family to Sabine, well, there would have been plenty of blood flowing. But for her, Ryder held back.

Sabine raised her hand, stopping her brother’s advance. “I told you on the way here . . . where I’ve been . . . what’s happened to me . . . it’s a very long story.”

“I’ve got nothing but time,” Rhett threw back. “And I’ve been going insane worrying about you. Hell, Sabe, when you didn’t come home, when the days passed and no one could find you anywhere, Mom had a heart attack.”

Sabine’s body trembled.

“She’s fine,” Rhett said quickly as his friends watched the exchange in silence. “But she’s been crying herself to sleep every damn night since you disappeared.” Faint lines bracketed his mouth. “Why didn’t you just call? So you turned into a vamp. Not the choice I would have wanted, but you know I love you. No matter what you are, I love you.”

Silence. Heavy. Painful.

Sabine rolled her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have come back.”

A muscle jerked in Rhett’s jaw. Pain flashed in his eyes.

Ryder eyed the stake. For the moment, Rhett wasn’t attacking. But the moment he did . . .

Sabine cleared her throat. “How did you—how did you even know that I was back? How’d you find me in that alley?”

It was the dark-haired man who answered. The one she’d called Louis. The guy who seemed to be guarding Rhett’s back. “We’ve got eyes all over this city. Everyone has been looking for you. When we got word that you were spotted on the trolley near Canal, we hauled ass down there.”

Rhett nodded. “We hauled ass, and found you up against the wall, and that crazy bastard with the fire in his eyes was about to attack you.”