“Next time, I promise,” he husked, trailing his lips down her warm cheek.

She arched away from his touch. Her mute protest, however, couldn’t disguise the passion that perfumed her skin. Ah, hormones. They were a wonderful thing.

“There won’t be a next time.” She reinforced her claim with yet another punch to his chest. “I don’t need you or anyone else to save me.”

He touched his tongue to the frantic pulse that beat at the base of her throat. “You’ve changed, my little shrew.”

“I didn’t have much choice.”

His arms instinctively tightened. Damn the Oracles. They had called him away just when this vulnerable woman had needed him the most.

“No, I suppose you didn’t.” His touch became soothing as he stroked his lips along her collarbone, silently absorbing her intoxicating scent. It was at last the distant sound of sirens that forced Cezar to lift his head. “We need to leave here before it is discovered that you are no longer in your room.”

“Wait…”

He ignored her protest as he bolted down the nearly empty street. It wouldn’t be empty for long. Humans had a weird obsession with disasters. And a fire burning in a historic hotel filled with the elite of Chicago society would certainly qualify as a disaster.

Well, at least to some.

“Sorry, querida, but I don’t have time to argue.”

She struggled in his grasp. “Put me down.”

“Not until we’re away from here. Someone wants you dead and I don’t intend to give them the satisfaction.”

She stilled, as if startled by his blunt words. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you care if I’m alive or dead?”

He glanced down at her wary hazel eyes, a jolt of pure male possession racing through him. “I told you one hundred and ninety-five years ago that you belong to me, Anna Randal,” he growled. “No one is allowed to harm you.”

Chapter 3

Fury roared through Anna. Damn the arrogant vampire. She had come to Chicago with a plan. Okay, not a good plan, but one that was supposed to trap Conde Cezar and get her the answers she deserved.

Instead she very much suspected that she had once again been played by this man.

If there was a trap she was the one who had fallen for the damn lure. And for her trouble she had been nearly burned to death in her hotel room without one answer to show for it.

God, she had been a fool to ever come here.

Nothing good ever happened when Cezar strolled into her life.

He was like her own personal kryptonite.

Only cuter. With the sort of sex appeal that set her body on fire and made her think of being pressed to the nearest wall and feeling his large, hard…

No, Anna, no.

He was bad news.

And until he gave her a few answers there would be no hot, sweaty, delicious sex.

Stirring up the embers of her anger, Anna concentrated on the hard, male body that was carrying her with such aggravating ease. She had warned Cezar she was no longer the weak, innocent woman he had known in the past. It was time to prove her words were more than hot air.

“Stop,” she commanded, forming the image of Cezar trapped in molasses. Thick, sticky, gooey molasses. “I said to stop now.”

Cezar’s steps began to falter, his beautiful eyes widening in shock as the air congealed and wrapped around his body, forcing him to a halt.

“Infierno,” he muttered, regarding her with a satisfying wariness. Ha. That would teach the arrogant ass. “I have stopped, querida, release the bonds.”

“Do you promise to stop pushing and hauling me around whenever you want me to do something?”

“I…” He hissed in obvious pain. “Anna, you must release your power. My ribs are already fractured.”

Her smug pleasure at having bested the vampire evaporated beneath his agonized gaze. Oh…shit. She had been so busy showing off that she hadn’t really considered the consequences.

Just how long was it until dawn?

“I’m not sure I can,” she at last confessed. “I don’t exactly know how I do it.”

Half expecting him to shake her senseless, or at least flash those fangs he kept so carefully hidden, Anna was caught off guard when he did no more than gaze deep into her eyes.

“Just concentrate,” he murmured.

“Concentrate on what?”

“Relax your mind.” His head lowered so he could whisper directly into her ear. “Shhh…just relax. Just let it all go. That’s it, Anna.”

His soft words poured through her body like warm honey, easing her fears and making her feel as if she were floating. She allowed her senses to seek out the invisible bonds, attempting to make them form in her mind. For a moment there was nothing and then, without warning, they appeared like steel bands in her imagination. Cezar gave another pained groan as they ruthlessly crushed his body. Crap. With a surge of panic she forced herself to shatter them with her thoughts.

There was a soft groan before she found herself being set roughly onto her feet. About her, the early spring breeze returned to whipping happily down the street, seemingly as delighted as Cezar to be released from her control.

Gaining her balance, Anna watched as Cezar pressed a hand to his chest.

She bit her lip. “Are you badly hurt?”

“I’ll recover.”

“I told you to stop.”

“So you did.” With a grimace Cezar lowered his hand. “Styx warned me that a woman coming into her powers is a dangerous thing. Next time I’ll pay more attention to him. What did you do?”

She gave an awkward shrug. “I told you, I don’t really know.”

A dark brow arched. “Anna.”

She met the piercing black gaze. She even managed to meet it squarely for several long, awkward moments before she blew out a resigned sigh.

Dammit, why wouldn’t he let it be? She felt enough like a weirdo without confessing her I Dream of Jeannie routine.

“I just…” She gave a shake of her head. “God, it sounds so stupid when I say it out loud, but sometimes if I focus hard enough I can control the things around me.”

He looked more intrigued than horrified. “What sort of things?”

She gave a wave of her hands. “The air. I can make it warmer or colder.”

“Or squeeze the hell out of a vampire?”

“Bonus.”

His lips twitched. “What else can you do?”

“A few months ago the drains in my condo backed up and water was filling my basement. I freaked out when I saw the damage and suddenly the water was pouring back down the drains and the basement was completely dry.”

He touched her cheek with an oddly reverent motion. “An elemental.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Her mouth went dry. “What the hell is that?”

The slender fingers slid down the line of her jaw creating all sorts of unwelcome havoc.

“I’m afraid that I’m not the one to ask for explanations. I’ve only heard rumors of such creatures.”

She stepped back. Conde Cezar might be the most arrogant, aggravating pain in the butt she had ever met, but his touch could still turn her mind to mush.

“I’m not a creature.” She sent him a telling glance. “At least not until I met you.”

“Anna, the one thing I do know is that elementals are born, not created. I had nothing to do with your powers.” He studied her sketpical expression before giving a shake of his head. “We can’t linger here in the open.”

She stubbornly stood her ground. It had been stupid to rush to Chicago and confront Cezar. She wasn’t about to make it worse by happily skipping off in the dark with a self-confessed vampire.

Her bizarro talents weren’t nearly dependable enough for that.

“What makes you think someone is trying to kill me?” she demanded.

“Would there be any other reason for a fire to be started outside your door?”

“It could have been an accident.”

He looked at her as if her elevator couldn’t possibly be going all the way to the top.

And maybe it wasn’t.

“Do you truly believe that?”

“I don’t know.” She rubbed her aching temples. How long had it been since she had slept? Or ate? She couldn’t even remember. “Christ, I’ve gone way past my crazy threshold. This day couldn’t get any worse.”

“Never tempt fate, querida,” he warned softly. “It’s a lesson that I learned at my peril.”

She snorted as her gaze skimmed over his dark, knee-buckling beauty. His bronzed features were just as elegant, just as exquisitely carved as they had been two centuries ago. There wasn’t even a strand of gray in the thick black hair to mar his perfection.

“You don’t look as if you’ve suffered over the years.”

Something dangerous flashed through his dark eyes. Dangerous enough to make her take a hasty step backward.

“You have no idea, sweet Anna,” he said coldly. “But for now I’m more interested in discovering who’s trying to kill you and why. Do you have any enemies?”