Raging Passions Read Free

food. He’d once offered to teach her to fight in exchange for some physical consideration. In other words, sex. She’d turned him down.
    “Since when did you need an excuse to kill a man?” Dean joked. Unlike many other vamps, he refused to wear black. She’d never seen him in anything but blue jeans. White muscle shirts were practically his uniform, but he definitely had the arms and shoulders for them.
    Rage frowned. “Why do I get the feeling you are setting me up?”
    “Because I am,” Ripper smiled, “but not how you think.” He scooped her face into his hands and kissed her. His tongue slipped between her lips, firing a storm of flaming tingles throughout her entire body. As the kiss deepened, Ripper gently massaged her scalp with his fingertips. Rage softened under his power, enjoying the moment against her will. Finally he broke from her mouth and spoke. “If it makes you feel better, I have no desire to see you hurt. After you finish the human, I have every intention of taking you to my bed tonight.”
    That didn’t make her feel better.
    Ripper released her. “Now go kill the human.”
    Frowning, Rage turned back to the alley below. Mindful of her heels, she hopped over the low wall and dropped to the ground three stories below her. She landed behind the man and kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the brick wall.
    He managed to shield his head at the last moment. When he spun around, he led with his knife.
    Rage jumped back, easily avoiding the blade.
    He didn’t hesitate to charge her with efficient figure-eight swings. She didn’t bother looking at her opponent’s face, focusing instead only on the experienced movement of his body. This human had fighting skills beyond hers, but she had her vampire speed and strength. Timing her block, she caught him in the wrist and knocked the blade from his hand.
    Dropping down, he tried to sweep her feet. She dodged him and then landed on top of him so she straddled his hard stomach. Before he could strike, she caught him by both wrists and forced them down beside his head. Her vampire instincts ruled her now. Curling back her lips, she hissed at him. In one second, she would have her fangs deep in his throat and the fight would be over.
    “Regina!” he shouted, obviously startled to recognize her.
    Rage froze. She’d not heard anyone call her by her human name in six years. Not since Ripper rebirthed her. Rage looked at the man beneath her. The summer-sky blue of his eyes ripped through her with the shock and recognition in them. His chestnut stubble masked the strong, masculine planes of his handsome face, a face she remembered cradling lovingly when they kissed. Gone was the carefree playboy she’d fallen in love with. This man possessed a hard edge that stole her breath and stopped her heart. How could he be here? After he stood her up at the altar, she thought she’d never ever see him again. “Caden?”
    “Kill him, Rage,” Ripper said. She glanced back to see him standing behind her with Shade and Dean flanking him.
    Rage looked back down at Caden. He didn’t fight her, just stared in stunned silence.
    Love, that traitorous emotion, roared to life in her cold heart and burned her eyes. Just feeling his warm body beneath hers made her ache to feel him inside her again, to have him complete her as he once did. She choked on her words as she whispered, “I can’t.”

Chapter Two
     
    Rage couldn’t begin to think. Her brain felt as if it seized up, stiffening her muscles so her whole body trembled. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.
    Staring at Caden as if she thought for his next trick he’d grow a second head, Rage backed off him cautiously. When she settled beside him on her knees, he raised to his elbows. The reality of him so close, so real, so substantial, body slammed her.
    Testing her sanity, Rage reached out hesitantly, half expecting him to collapse like a wisp of illusion. With the flat press of the