“On”—I gulped—“blood?”

He shook his head but said, “Yes, now—”

“Human blood?” I asked.

“Yes,” he clipped and moved toward me. I moved back as he kept speaking. “Now—”

“You feed on human blood?” My voice was rising.

“Fuck,” he hissed. He stopped moving toward me but went on talking, and he did it sharply. “Yeah. I do. I’m a werewolf vampire. I transform to wolf and I feed on human blood. The bitch I had earlier didn’t feel a thing, got off while I was doin’ it to her, just like they all do. I’ve had her before, though I ’spect, you in the picture, I won’t have her again. And I didn’t harm her.”

“So that’s not another one to add to your body count for the night?” I asked.

“Nope,” he answered casually.

I felt my brows go up. “She got off on it?”

“Helped I was fuckin’ her at the time, but yeah, she did. Bitch begs me to bite her. Seein’ as I need the blood, it works for me.”

More of what he said hit me.

“Me in the picture?”

“You might have missed it with all that’s gone down, but told you straight up you were mine.”

He did.

He did do that.

It was uh-oh before.

Now it’s a big, steaming pile of smelly uh-oh.

I looked side to side, still backing up, now whispering, “This shit is crazy.”

“It is. Absolutely,” he agreed, and him doing that made me stop and look back at him. When I did, he continued, “Until tonight, I didn’t know there were others like me. Obviously, there are. And obviously something’s up, because I never saw another like me, not in all the years I’ve been on this earth. You hit town and they’re everywhere.”

“Me?”

“You.”

“Why?”

“You felt I was in danger?”

I shook my head but admitted, “Yeah.”

“Knife through the gut, pain so extreme you’re sure you’ll bleed out in a second?” he pushed.

Oh God, how did he know?

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Felt that too, earlier tonight, when those guys were chasing you. Never felt that before in my life. Knew exactly where you were and had no idea how I knew. Knew exactly what you were the minute I laid eyes on you. You calm down, take a breath like I told you to do, I figure you’ll know it too.”

I was taking no breath and trying to feel anything, so I shook my head. “I just want to get out of here. Get out of here and go home.”

That not being home to my apartment, but home to my dad’s compound.