Abigail woke up to the sensation of someone cradling her against an impressively hard chest, as if she were unspeakably cherished. She honestly couldn't remember the last time a man had held her like this.

If ever.

He was wrapped completely around her. Warm. Seductive. Inviting. Protective. It was the kind of sweet, loving embrace people dreamed of finding themselves in, but seldom did. For a full minute, she lay there in complete satiation.

Until she remembered who he was.

Sundown Brady.

Outlaw. Dark-Hunter. Killer.

Enemy.

She jerked involuntarily, which immediately caused him to awaken and push himself up on his arms to look around, as if expecting more coyotes to leap out of the walls and devour them.

When he didn't see an immediate threat, he scowled down at her. "Everything okay?"

Yes ... He was so incredibly sexy in that pose. His hips were pressed intimately against hers, and his arms bulged with his raw strength. It made her ache for the very thing she would die before she gave him.

"No, you're on top of me." She pushed at his chest.

He rolled off her and onto his back with a taunting grin as he wiggled his hips to settle into his new position. "Now, that's not normally the way a woman reacts when I'm on top of her. I usually get a little more enthusiasm and welcome than that."

She gave him a withering stare to mask how incredibly yummy she thought he was right then. No need in feeding that ego. "Well, that's what happens when you pay women for sex."

To her surprise, he laughed good-naturedly. Damn, he was devastating when he did that, and he made it hard to remember she was supposed to hate his guts.

Stretching like a languid cat, he yawned. "Sorry about crushing you all morning. I think we fell asleep in the middle of a conversation."

They had. One she could barely recall now. What she did recall was how comforting he'd been while she'd cried, and that was the last thing she needed to think about. "Yeah, but I'm not sure which of us fell asleep first."

"I'm pretty sure it was you."

She had a suspicion he was right, and this was getting a little too familiar for her tastes. She wanted to keep a gap between them. A nice safe chasm that protected her from caring about anyone, especially him. So she changed the subject. "Your gun's still on the floor."

He scratched at the manly shadow on his cheek in a way that was boyish and somehow endearing. He was so nonchalant with her and she should be aggravated by that, not charmed. "Glad I didn't need it, since it's all the way over there."

No kidding. That could have been a bloody disaster. "So what time do you think it is?"

"Feels like it's still daylight. Not sure of the exact time, though."

"What do you mean it feels like daylight?"

He yawned before he answered. "Wicked power we have. We can sense when the sun's up. Which it still is."

No doubt they'd been given that to help keep them alive, since Apollo would kill any Dark-Hunter or Apollite he found in his domain. The Greek god was a real bastard that way.

And you killed two of Jess's brethren by trapping them in daylight. She didn't even want to think about how the others died.

Please, please don't let me have killed a protector....

Trying not to think about that either, she got up and went to the bathroom.

Jess didn't speak as he watched her plod across the room. She had the most seductive walk he'd ever seen on any woman. Slow and sensual and full of sass. It was the kind of walk that made men turn and stare. Most of all, it made him ache to take a bite out of that hot little body of hers, especially that well-shaped ass.

Man, to have that naked and wrapped around him ...

Uh, hello, cowboy? You're not supposed to have those thoughts about a human who's been offering your friends up as sacrifice to the dark gods.

Maybe not, but he was a man, and his body wasn't about to listen to his brain, especially since all the blood was now gathered into the part of him that craved her most. It wanted what it saw, and she was definitely worth an ass-whipping or two dozen.

Pushing that out of his mind before it got him into some serious trouble, he closed his eyes and used his powers to sense Ren. He knew the moment he made contact. Ren pushed back with his own telepathy.

"What, cowboy?"

He shook his head at Ren's surly tone in his head. He didn't like anyone near his thoughts-not the Jess blamed him. Mind readers weren't his favorite thing either. "Wanted to see if you were awake yet."

"I've been awake and meditating. And to answer your next question, it's almost four, so you have plenty of time to grab ass if you want."

Jess quickly blocked the image in his mind that those words conjured. Grabbing Abigail's ass was a lot more appealing to him than it should be. "Stay out of my thoughts."

"Believe me, I'm trying to. I don't want to throw up right after I brushed my teeth."

Bastard.

"By the way," Ren continued, ignoring the insult that questioned his parentage, "I'm about as weak as I've ever been. Other than the telepathy, which I obviously know is working, how are your powers doing?"

Jess winced as he realized his were down, too. "Probably drained as much as yours are."

"Guess we're going to pretend we're human for a bit."

Jess snorted. There were many folks, including Abigail, who would say that he'd never been human. "Can you shape-shift at all?"

"Never a problem."

Now, that was interesting. "Care to tell me why that one isn't malfunctioning?"

"It likes me best."

Jess shook his head. Smart-ass.

His attention shifted as he heard the water in his bathroom come on. Abigail was taking a shower....

"I'm going to leave you to the thoughts of her naked, since I have no interest in being a voyeur to your fantasies, especially with a viper. Check in with me when you're focused on fighting and not-"

"Gotcha, Ren. I'll powwow with you later."

Jess lay alone on the bed, listening to the water run in the other room. In his mind, he had a perfect image of what Abigail would look like as she soaped her naked breasts. His body roared back to life with a vengeance. His hunger for her was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. And it wasn't just because she was a beautiful woman.

There was something else. Something he hadn't felt since the first time he met Matilda. It was a deep-seated ache. An urge he had to be near her. To protect her.

To hold her.

It took every bit of his control not to go in there and make her slap his face. One corner of his mouth lifted as he imagined her outrage if he did.

Definitely worth the slap. But he wouldn't do that to her. He was too much of a gentleman to horrify a woman. No matter how horny he was.

That being said, his thoughts of her were killing him.

* * *

Abigail was trying to sort through all the information she'd been given. She wanted to believe her family. She did.

But it was hard to refute what she'd been shown, and the fact that Sundown didn't act like a psychotic killer.

If only she knew the real truth of everything. Were there rogue Apollites who preyed on humans? It seemed preposterous, and yet so did the existence of Apollites altogether. If one was possible, wouldn't it stand to reason that so was the other?

But why had no one in her family ever mentioned them?

The only thing she knew for a fact was that she was being hunted by something she'd accidentally unleashed. And that she didn't doubt at all.

How could she have been so stupid?

Sighing, she reached for the soap, only to feel a vicious stabbing pain rip through her abdomen. It was a thousand times worse than the most wretched menstrual cramp. She tried to move, but it slammed her down to the ground as it continued to twist in her stomach. Her skin burned like it was on fire. The water was no longer soothing. Now it tore at her flesh like a razor. Tears gathered in her eyes.

Oh my God, I'm in an Alien movie....

That was what it felt like. Some creature trying to claw its way out of her belly. Light and sound tortured her. Images flashed through her mind as if controlled by a psychedelic strobe.

Help me....

She couldn't speak the words. They were frozen in her throat.

Suddenly, the shower door opened. Her breathing ragged, she looked up to find Sundown there.

"Abigail?" His tone was filled with concern.

"Help me," she choked out as tears coursed down her cheeks.

He turned the water off, then scooped her up in his arms to carry her back to bed.

Had she been able, she'd have protested his carrying her while she was wet and naked. But right now, she didn't care and he didn't seem to notice about either one.

She groaned out loud as more pain lacerated her.

"I've got you," he said comfortingly. He wrapped her in a blanket, then brushed her hair back from her face with a tenderness that was completely unexpected. "What's going on?"

"I-I don't know. It hurts."

"Where?"

"Everywhere. But my stomach's the worst of it."

Jess touched her stomach, and she screamed in agony. He thought it might be appendicitis until he met her gaze. Her eyes glowed red. "Um, honey, is there something you want to tell me?"

"What? That I feel like I'm giving birth to a fire-breathing dragon?"

"Nah, more like ... any idea why your eyes would be demon red?" They were the same color they'd turned when she was unconscious.

She opened her mouth as if to respond, but before she could, her incisors lengthened.

Holy shit.

Had she made a pact with Artemis? She definitely looked like a Hunter, but none that he knew of had red eyes....

"Get away from her, Jess."

He glanced over his shoulder to see Choo Co La Tah there. "What's going on?"

Abigail went for Jess's throat with a force so fierce, she forced them both off the bed.

Jess caught her, but it was a struggle to keep her from biting him. Dang, she was strong. Inhumanly strong. He had to turn her around in his arms, and he held her there with her back pressed to him while she shrieked in outrage.

Choo Co La Tah crossed the room and took her face in his hands. He began chanting something Jess couldn't understand while Abigail fought him with everything she had. She slammed her head back into his, knocking him senseless. Still, he held on to her even while his jaw burned.

Her struggles increased until she let out another fierce scream. An instant later, she collapsed.

He lifted her up into his arms and cradled her against him once more. Her skin was suddenly so cold, it scared him. Was she all right? He returned her to bed while Choo Co La Tah continued with his melodic chant.

Her breathing was coming in short, hard gasps now.

Choo Co La Tah forced him away from the bed so that he could place one palm on her forehead. After a few seconds, she calmed down and appeared to sleep.

With his hands on his hips, Jess scowled. "What was that?"

"They have merged her blood with a demon's."

That hit him like another blow to the head, which was the last thing he needed. His senses were rattled as much as if he'd taken a header off a bronco onto a fence. "Come again?"

Choo Co La Tah nodded. "One could surmise that they thought to strengthen her abilities by combining her DNA with a demon's."

Now, that was about dumb. But then, most people weren't rocket scientists, and he could see an idiot Daimon thinking they'd found an upper hand by using her that way.

But damn, he'd have figured Abigail for having more sense than to try something so boneheaded.

Obviously not.

"So the demon's controlling her?"

Choo Co La Tah shook his head. "The demon is dead. Demons can control someone only when they're alive, and normally when the demon dies, the control over the person is broken. But this ... They did something else to cause her to have the powers, and I don't know what it is."

"Beautiful." Well, at least that explained how she had the power to kill a Dark-Hunter. "Can she convert one of us if she bites us?"

Choo Co La Tah nodded grimly. "If her fangs are showing and she mixes her blood with anyone, it will bring them under her complete control. And the demon inside her will crave that control. The longer it's in there, the hungrier she'll become for a victim."

That was the scariest thought of all. "So what do we do?"

"We must get her to the Valley as soon as we can and perform the ritual."

"Then she'll be all right?"

Choo Co La Tah refused to answer-which could mean only one thing.

Abigail would die.