Demon Dreams by Misha Paige Page B

if…
    David aimed his gun at Samuel but before he could pull the trigger Samuel focused on him and the gun fell to the ground. David was a big man, taller and broader than Samuel even if he wasn’t as big as Alec. He had blond hair and blue eyes in a well-balanced, square face. I had always thought he was good looking.
    Until that night.
    Then he had seemed larger than life and so, so dangerous. And now I watched in disbelief as his sneering face looked at my mate and twisted with lust. He took one step. Then another. His feet dragging as if he was being forced against his will to walk to Samuel.
    Samuel slid his gaze to me. “Please look away, Sweetness.” I could see the pain and shame in his eyes before I did as he asked.
    He’s going to feed on David so he can save Alec!
    Hope filled my heart as I stroked Alec’s cheek. Then a low moan sounded and I couldn’t stop myself from looking.
    Samuel was kissing David as the larger man rubbed against him. It was David making the needy sounds as Samuel held him close. I couldn’t force myself to stop staring in horror until I realized David’s sounds were getting quieter and he seemed to be growing paler.
    Alec moaned. My gaze shot back to him. His color was better and to my joy, his pulse was stronger when I touched his throat.
    Alec’s black eyes opened, and he groaned. “Stop…Stop him. Healed me enough.” He tried to sit up. “I’ll survive now. He’ll kill him.”
    My lack of concern took me by surprise as I said, “You need to heal more and our secrets need to be kept. David deserves it.”
    Alec attempted to rise but fell back down. “Not this way. It will destroy Samuel.”
    “I thought he couldn’t lose his soul now that he has both of us.”
    “There’s more than one way to lose himself, Becca!”
    Samuel crying on a ship’s dirty floor as he glamoured Alec.
    The sadness on his face as he offered me a future with Alec. A future without him because he didn’t think I could love him.
    Horror shot through me as I remembered Alec’s words.
    “That was the moment he started hating what he was.”
    I understood now. I didn’t think as I scrambled to my feet.  NO! I wouldn’t let him hate himself any more. In seconds I was across the clearing and ripping David from Samuel as my mate yelled in protest. “He has to die!”
    “I know. But you’re not the monster.” And I put the gun I had picked up to David’s mouth. “I am.”
    I pulled the trigger.

 
    Chapter Ten
    Samuel had stayed very quiet while we hid the body. He only spoke long enough to explain there were people to call to pick it up for disposal. Apparently clean-up was a very lucrative, full service business in the paranormal world.
    After that, we got Alec home and put in bed so he could finish recovering through rest instead of Samuel’s ability. I tried not to feel rejected when Samuel hadn’t accepted my offer to help him heal Alec fully.
    When Samuel went to get a drink, I had curled up with my wolf as I waited in the middle of the bed for Samuel to come back and join us for the night. But after an hour or so I realized that he wasn’t coming.
    Maybe he can’t stand to look at me now.
    I sighed. If Mohammed won’t go to the mountain, the mountain will go to him.
    Or maybe it was the other way around. Shit, I didn’t know. All that mattered to me was him.
    I pulled on the robe he had bought me and quietly left the room. He was in the living room. Samuel lifted his head from his hands and looked up at me as I approached him where he was sitting on the sofa, wearing only his sleep pants. “Why didn’t you come to bed?”
    “I couldn’t,” he answered.
    I stood there and waited until he finally spoke again.
    “Why?”
    I shrugged. I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t know what he was asking. “You said it. He had to die. He knew too much about you when you used him to heal Alec.” And he had shot Alec.
    “But why you?” Samuel’s face looked weary in the firelight.