Kiss of Crimson Read Online Free PDF Page A

fashion. Probably was still in a state of shock.
    ―I‘m just going to check your eyes,‖ she informed him gently, then lifted one of his lids. Holy shit.
    The slitted pupil cutting through the center of a large, bright amber iris took her aback. She recoiled,
    freaked
    out
    by
    the
    unexpected
    presentation.
    ―What the—‖
    Then the explanation hit her, and she instantly felt like an idiot for losing her cool.
    Costume contacts.
    Chill out, she told herself. She was getting jumpy for no good reason. The guy must have been at a Halloween party that got out of hand or something. Not much she could tell from his eyes so long as he was wearing those ridiculous lenses.
    Maybe he‘d been partying with a rough crowd; he certainly looked big and dangerous enough to be part of some kind of gang. If he‘d been rolling with gangbangers tonight, she didn‘t detect any evidence of drugs on him. She didn‘t smell alcohol on him either. Just some heavy-duty smoke, and not from cigarettes.
    He smelled like he‘d walked through fire. Just before he took a dive into the Mystic River.
    ―Can you move your arms or legs?‖ she asked him, moving on to inspect his limbs. ―Do you think you have any broken bones?‖
    She skimmed her hands over his thick arms, feeling no obvious fractures. His legs were solid too, no real damage beyond the bullet wound in his left calf. From the look of it, the round appeared to have passed clean through. Same with the one that hit him in the torso. Luckily for him.
    ―I‘d like to move you to one of my exam rooms. Do you think you can walk if I help hold you up?‖
    ―Blood,‖ he gasped, his voice thready. ―Need it... now.‖
    ―Well, I‘m sorry, but I can‘t help you there. You‘ll need a hospital for that. Right now, we have to get you off this floor and out of those ruined clothes. God knows what kind of bacteria you picked up in that water out there.‖
    She put her hands under his armpits and started to lift, encouraging him to stand. He growled, something deep and animalistic. As the sound left his mouth, Tess caught a glimpse of his teeth behind his curled upper lip.
    Whoa. That’s weird.
    Were those monstrous canines actually... fangs ?
    His eyes came open as if he had sensed her awareness. Her unease. Tess was instantly blasted by piercing bright amber light, the glowing irises sending a bolt of panic straight into her chest. Those sure as hell weren‘t contacts.
    Good Lord. Something wasn’t right with this guy at all.
    He grabbed her upper arms. Tess cried out in alarm. She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he was too strong. Hands as unyielding as iron bands clamped tighter around her and brought her closer. Tess shrieked, wide-eyed, frozen in fear as he drew her right up against him.
    ―Oh, God. No!‖
    He turned his bloodied, battered face toward her throat. Sucked in a sharp breath as he neared her, his lips brushing her skin.
    ―Shhh.‖ Warm air skated across her neck as he spoke in a low, pained rasp. ―I won‘t... not going to... hurt you. I promise... ‖
    Tess heard the words.
    She almost believed them.
    Until that split second of terror, when he parted his lips and sank his teeth deep into her flesh.

    CHAPTER Four

    B lood surged into Dante‘s mouth from the twin punctures in the female‘s neck. He drew from her with deep, urgent pulls, unable to curb the feral part of him that knew only need and desperation. It was life pulsing over his tongue and down his parched throat, silky, cinnamon-sweet, and so very warm. Maybe it was the severity of his need that made her taste so incredible, so indescribably perfect to him. Whatever it was, he didn‘t care. He drank more of her, needing her heat when he was chilled to his marrow.
    ―Oh, God. No!‖ The woman‘s voice was thready with shock. ―Please! Let me go!‖
    She clutched at his shoulders reflexively, fingers digging into his muscles. But the rest of her body was slowly going still in his arms, lulled to