Detective Brady Lindstrom deals in death, and not just because he's a homicide cop with the slaughter of a century to solve. Ten years ago, vampires murdered his lover. Ever since, he's looked over his shoulder, ready for vampires to strike again. Or maybe just the one he loved.<br><br>Exhausted and angry about the needless deaths he has to investigate, Brady worries the killers he's looking for aren't even human. Those fears are compounded by an unexpected visitor, the battered and nearly broken Cole Singer, the lover he'd long ago given up for dead.<br><br>When Cole offers to trade information on the killers in exchange for sanctuary, Brady realizes he doesn't have a choice. It isn't about justice. He simply can't turn his back on the face of the only man he's ever loved. Even if he's a vampire.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, he stripped out of his shoes and shirt before kneeling at the side of the tub. The bloodstained gauze he’d taped over the injuries was destroyed and totally unusable. So was the shirt he’d given to Cole. Keeping his gaze from the worst of the injuries, he scooped an arm behind Cole’s back to pull the shirt over his head.


He froze. Scars mottled Cole’s shoulder blades. Skinny, thick, long, short. Most were white with age, but there were a couple still pink from newness. There were even a few puncture marks. Fangs. Unmistakably.


How had he missed seeing these last night? But he knew the answer to that. He’d been concentrating on the chest wound and doing everything in his power not to look at any other part of Cole. Would it have changed anything if I’d known?No way to tell. Pointless to dwell on it now, though. Cole wasn’t awake to explain them, no matter how badly Brady wanted to know their origins.


Chapter 19