Page 13 of Burn for Her

The woman was lost to him until she went in front of another mirror again and who knew how long that might take. What could happen to her between now and then? What danger was she in? Dorian couldn’t get the image of her bloodied face out of his mind.

He both loathed and lusted for it.

Sick. Fuck.

He was a twisted, depraved monster to have such a hard-on right now. His woman was out there, bleeding and hurt, and he was standing like a statue with an erection hard as stone, gawking at himself in a mirror that was no longer being helpful.

“Dorian.”

Someone’s hand rested on his shoulder and it set him off. No one. No. One. Was allowed to come behind him and grab his shoulder like that. Everyone in this House knew it. Dorian grabbed that hand, pitched forward, flipped the motherfucker over his head, and slammed them against the mirror. The looking glass shattered and fell off its mount. Bits of plaster crumbled down with it.

A vampire named Xin stared up at him with a furious expression. “The fuck, Dorian!”

Too late to stop his momentum, Dorian snatched Xin by the throat and picked him up again. Slamming him against the wall, Dorian snarled in his face. He couldn’t even make a word come out of his mouth. All he was capable of was snarling. Hissing.

And killing.

“Christ, he’s gone mad!” someone else said behind him. “Get Lucian!”

If one more person tried to grab him right now, he was going to raze this motherfucking mansion and bury everyone in it. His mate was out there bleeding, whoever hit her was out there still breathing, and he was stuck without a clue on how to find her.

That would be enough to make anyone—vampire or not—go insane.

“Dorian!” Victoria tried prying his hands off Xin’s neck. Took her three attempts, but after she said his name again, and clipped him in the side of the head with her elbow, his hands relaxed.

Easing up on Xin, but still keeping him pinned, Dorian looked around like he wasn’t sure where he even was. His instincts swarmed him, spiraling into a funnel of chaos. He felt out of control. Out of his element. It caused him to tense and gasp for air.

Victoria’s eyebrows knit together with concern. “Dorian, did you see someone in that mirror?”

He didn’t want to say. As fast as it happened, maybe he hadn’t seen her at all. He hadn’t slept much lately. Hadn’t fed in forever. And with all the stress he was under, this could very well have been a trick of the eye. A figment of his dark and monstrous imagination. It would certainly explain all the blood on her.

No sooner had Dorian allowed the possibility of that woman’s image being nothing but a twist of his mind, a terrible roar ripped from his throat. He dropped Xin like a sack of potatoes and stumbled backwards.

She was real. Not even his warped imagination could conjure such a bloodied beauty.

He had to get out of there. Had to find her. Had to put space between himself and everyone here before he hurt someone else.

Lucian dashed into the scene, took one look at Dorian’s face and the shattered mirror, immediately piecing the mystery together. “Aww shit, come on.” He rushed forward and steered Dorian towards the door, leaving Victoria to help Xin up. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Dorian, for once, matched Lucian’s phenomenal speed.

“What does she look like?” Lucian asked in low tones.

“Bloody.”

With a flick of his wrist, Lucian unlocked the front door and didn’t lift his grip from Dorian’s arm. Not even after they made it all the way to his car. “Get in. I’ll drive.”

“I’m capable of driving my own car.”

“You seem to be capable of a lot right now, Dorian. You just knocked three vampires unconscious.”

Wait. What?

“I…” Dorian’s brow furrowed. “I only slammed Xin. He grabbed my shoulder and I snapped.” Xin knew the rules with Dorian, so he had little regret for his actions back there.

“You also knocked out Kai and Reys.”

Shit, had he? Dorian didn’t remember that part at all. Shaking his head, like he could rattle it back into proper working order, Dorian knew which battles to fight and which to surrender. He opened the passenger side door and slid in.

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