Excerpt of A Taste of Terror by Chastity Bush

"Are you all right?"

Sitting up slowly, she reached to feel the tender spot on the back of her head.

"Just a little sore, I think I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm more worried about you," she said quickly, reaching out to pull what was left of his T–shirt away from the deep lacerations marring his chest.

"What the...?" The wounds she had seen him sustain were life threatening; she had been able to see his ribs through the deep gashes as he fought but now....

"They are almost gone?" she wondered aloud. "What in the hell are you?" She rubbed the tips of her fingers across what looked like four fading scars.

Cole shivered under her tender touch. Her fingertips gently brushed over the wounds to his chest. The heat of her touch burned through him, pleasure weaving its way throughout his body. He had never experienced this kind of raw need for a woman, never felt such powerful desire for someone as he did for Chloe.

"Well?" she asked with exasperation as she stood, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well what?" His mind was still lost in the pleasure of her touch.

"What–are–you?" she enunciated slowly.

Struggling to hide a smile, Cole stood, pulling what was left of his shirt over his head before tossing it into the trash can.

Grinning, Cole watched the irritation so clearly on Chloe's face fade as her eyes roamed the length of his body.

"Do I meet your approval?" Cole teased.

It was as if he could feel her eyes on his bare flesh, burning a trail over every inch they covered. He could smell her need for him; he could see it in the expressions flickering across her face. For a moment he was severely tempted to throw her to the ground and take her, to claim her but his good sense prevailed. This was not the time and definitely not the place. Instead, the need to tease her had won out.

Cole watched as she schooled her features. The flicker of embarrassment faded, only to be replaced by irritation.

"You're kind of an ass you know that?" she stated bluntly, her golden eyes glittering in the bright lights. She had just saved his life and he would not even tell her what the hell he was? Irritation slithered within her.

She was serious, he noted and he fought to hide the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"So, I have been told."

"I take it that you are not going to answer my question?"

"Not here."

"Well, seeing as I need some answers as to what just happened here," she said, waving her hands at the mess surrounding them, "where will you tell me what I need to know?"

He had intended on telling her about his assignment and what part she played in it. He had even intended to tell her what he was and answer whatever it was that she needed to know about her own kind. That had been his reason for coming to the hospital to begin with. He had first thought to catch her at her home but, after watching her apartment for nearly a week, it seemed that she was at work more than she was at home.

"Your place."

Nodding her head, she agreed.

"There is only one problem."

"What is that?" he asked.

"How are we both going to get out of here? I'm covered with blood and you are half naked. Don't you think that that might draw some attention?"

Looking around the room, he spotted a door along the farthest wall with a large exit sign hanging above it.

"Where does this lead?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder at her.

"It's a fire exit; my guess would be that it leads out onto...a fire escape," she finished sarcastically.

"You are a bit of a smartass, you know that?"

"So, I have been told." She repeated his earlier words.

He nodded. "Well then," he said, striding back to stand in front of her. His chest was only inches from hers. "Let's go." He reached down and hooked his arm around her waist, lifting her over his shoulder.

"What in the hell are you doing?" she squealed.

"We need to move fast," he answered lightly, as if that explained why she was currently slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I can walk," she complained, wriggling about.

The feel of her thighs beneath his palms sent heat straight to his groin. The sight of her firm ass next to his face, wriggling as he carried her to the exit, tortured him, begged him to reach up and squeeze the firm globes in his hands.

Shaking his head, he fought the urge.

"I know that," he began, "but we will have to jump down at least one story. Can you jump that far without hurting yourself yet?"

She shook her head. "I haven't tried," she admitted reluctantly.

Cole was not surprised that Chloe did not know the extent of her new abilities.

She had not had a teacher to teach her what she could and could not do now that she was a werewolf. That was something that he would have to remedy.

"Can you?" she asked quietly. "Jump that far, I mean."

Stepping out onto the fire escape, Cole tightened his grip.

"Hold on."