He paused a moment before letting her go. Quickly she put three feet between them and turned to face him. Her breathing was uneven and ragged and she hated the terror forking through her. To not be scared of him would be stupid, though.
She'd seen Knox's strength before. Had seen him rip apart a vampire trying to hurt her in seconds. With his bare hands. But she'd been human then. He'd actually cared about what happened to her and had wanted to protect her. Now...well, she was a vampire.
It had been exactly ninety years since she'd last seen him. Something she shouldn't remember, but it was hard not to. Once she'd loved this shifter with all of her beings.
But the moment she'd been turned into a vampire she'd known that no amount of love she had for him would make a difference. She had been turned into his mortal enemy against her will.
So she'd run from him without telling him what had happened to her. She hadn't been willing to risk letting him kill her.
Seemed all her running had come to an end. After nine decades she finally faced facing the one man she'd never been able to forget.
Knox stared at the petite vampire before him and fought to breathe. Angela Lavigne. Angel, to him. The nickname had driven her crazy for some reason. Same pale grey eyes, same midnight-black hair, much different haircut.
It was shorter now, falling around her face in a messy, sexy look that he knew wasn't intentional. She'd been fighting his wolves and running for her life so it was only natural.
The moment he'd seen her on one of his security cameras running for the house he'd been floored, then had instantly gotten rock hard. The reaction was embarrassing but she'd always had that effect on him. Ninety years later, it didn't matter. He hadn't had much time to tell his pack to back down as they attempted to intercept her. Not that it had mattered.
She'd run in here like she was on a suicide mission. "It's been a long time, Angel."
Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't call me that. Where's Natalia?"
He was surprised by her question but he didn't move. Instead, he allowed the anger he'd been holding at bay to rush through him, knowing she'd sense it. "You're here to retrieve her for your tribe leader? You're a bit young to be a death merchant." He practically spat the words.
Angela jerked back at his words. "What are you - ?"
The door to the bedroom flew open and Natalia barged in. On instinct, he put himself between the tall blonde and Angela.
His former lover might be smaller than the other female but after seeing her in action tonight, he wouldn't underestimate her. And Natalia was extremely young and untrained, having just been turned into a vampire less than a decade ago.
Natalia grabbed his forearm - definitely much too young to have any sort of fear of him - and stepped around him. "Don't hurt her. She's only here to protect me!"
Angela stepped closer to them but ignored him. "I don't understand, I thought you were taken by the wolves."
Natalia's face flushed a deep red as she faced her friend. She cleared her throat nervously. "I was taken but not the way you think. I, uh, fell in love with a werewolf and when I told Titus, he threatened to kill me so I ran."
Angela fell silent and it was obvious she'd had no idea her friend had left on her own. Finally, she spoke. "Why didn't you tell me? I...thought we were friends." The last part was said softly and even though Knox knew she was trying to mask it, her friend's deceit had hurt her. More than Natalia realized.
"If Titus questioned you, I didn't want you to know anything. I thought keeping you in the dark was best for your safety." Natalia's voice was pleading.
Angela's eyes hardened as she turned away from Natalia. She was completely cutting her emotional ties with her friend. He could see it in her expression as clearly as if she'd taken a pair of scissors and sliced through a string.
Natalia probably didn't understand it but Angela didn't give many chances to people and she had few friends. Or at least she'd been that way when she was human. He could only guess that now as a vampire some things hadn't changed.
Turning from the blonde vampire, Angela focused on him, her gaze hard. "So what's my punishment? Torture? Death?"
He could think of a dozen ways to "punish" her but kept his thoughts to himself because of their audience. Without turning away from her, he spoke to her friend. "Tell everyone we have a house guest and they're to treat her with respect while she's here."
"Angela, I'm so sorry. If I'd thought you'd come after me, I would have told you." Natalia spoke quietly, desperately.
Angela wouldn't look at her. Instead, she tightened her jaw and continued to glare at him as though he was to blame for all this.
Natalia paused, but eventually hurried from the room. He held out his arm to Angela and for a moment, felt as if he'd been transported back to when she was still human. Back when he'd been courting her.
Before she'd turned into a vampire then run from him. She'd held on to his arm then, everywhere they'd gone. Just the feel of her fingers grazing his skin had turned him on. "You can stay in my room."
Those pale eyes of hers turned icy. She snorted and took a step back. "I don't know what kind of games you're playing but I'm not staying in your room."
"It will be daylight soon and unless you can - "
"I'm a daywalker," she said quietly as if it were no big deal. As if her kind weren't the rarest of vampires. Practically extinct.