He sped through town and continued north on the highway until he came to the compound’s driveway. He cut his motor and pushed his bike into the dense underbrush before he came to the big, iron gate.
The entire compound was surrounded by a stone wall, ten feet high and the gates were closed. Good thing Ashton could jump the wall with no problem. He shifted into cat form and prowled toward the wall, sniffing for her scent. She was definitely here, or she had been recently. The tang of vampires singed his nose. He grumbled low in his chest, and jumped the wall.
Landing with feline grace on the top of the wall, he opened his heightened animal senses to his surroundings. The mansion stood against the dark sky at least half a mile away. He dropped from the wall and prowled through the manicured gardens along the tree line, toward the house.
Her scent grew stronger, but so did the scent of other vampires. Her smell was softer somehow, more human, more alive. His mouth watered at the thought of her. He knew she didn’t want to go with the man who’d taken her. Her father must have been some bastard to send his goon to kidnap his own daughter.
He’d heard bits of the conversation between Isabella and the man who’d taken her. Her father promised her to that guy. How draconian was that? Forced arranged marriage in this day and age? No. Ashton wasn’t cool with that.
Isabella was a hot girl and a good lay. He liked her a lot, but mostly he wanted to get her out of this on principle. Ashton liked a good joke and a laugh, but he had a keen sense of right and wrong. What her father was doing was definitely wrong.
He approached the house trying to pick up her trail. He panted in the pale moonlight, drawing the smells down his lungs. Where was she? He passed a small window near the ground and smelled her more strongly there. Pressing his nose to the glass, he smelled her distinct scent.
There were voices below him, a loud smack, and a scream. Isabella. They were hurting her. He had to find a way in. He had to get her out of here. Anger boiled in his stomach. He thought of the girl he’d had his hands all over all night. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved so much better, so much more.
He growled and clawed at the ground. He’d never get in this way. The window didn’t open from the outside. He’d have to break it, and that would draw attention. He had to get in silently. He didn’t know if he could take a full vampire. Isabella was half human and tiny. She was not an example of the kind of power these older, full-blooded vampires possessed. He didn’t think he could take one, let alone three or more.
He circled around the back of the house, looking for a way inside. Above him, he saw a balcony on the second floor overlooking the back gardens. He pounced and landed on the railing, barely hanging on. Clawing with his hind legs, he scrambled up onto the patio. Panting, his heart pounding, he hurried into the shadows of the porch.
Voices echoed from within, behind a curtain. He couldn’t tell who it was, but he could make out a muffled conversation.
“She’s downstairs, but she refuses to play along,” the first man said. Ashton recognized him as Domingo, the man who’d taken Isabella.
“Then we will go ahead with the plan. Whether she agrees to it or not, she really has no choice. She’ll see the error of her ways once she’s changed,” said the second voice. That must be Santiago, her father. That dude had been in Mystic Harbor for hundreds of years and the locals pretended like they didn’t notice. He passed on his name and estate to a new “Santiago” every century, but the other paranormals in town knew what he was.
Shifters had extended lives, but not like vampires. Vampires were immortal. Shifters lived to a ripe old age of a hundred and fifty or so. Witches tended to live to be very old humans. But vampires outlived them all. Everyone knew, and nobody talked about it. Most of the paranormals avoided the vampires like the plague. Those assholes were dangerous.
It was a good thing they kept mostly to themselves, and there weren’t any strange killings that involved bloodless corpses, at least on in the last hundred years or so. The vampires behaved, and the rest of the community tolerated them. Mystic Harbor was a safe haven for their kind, even the vampire coven.
Ashton knew that interfering in vampire business was risky, not only for himself, but for the town. The wrath of the vampires was not something anyone wanted. He could start a war in their little city that could destroy them all.
Part of him wanted to jump off that balcony and never come back. Isabella was just a girl he’d screwed. There had been plenty of those. When you tattooed tourists all day and looked like Ashton, getting laid just came with the territory.
But Isabella was different. He had to admit that to himself. He’d never felt as powerful or as free as he did with the little vampire. Even her incessant biting made him hot. He had to help her.
Chapter Ten
Domingo and Jensen threw her into a small room in the basement. There was a tiny metal bed with a thin mattress and a bucket in the corner. Great, the dungeon. This had been where her father had kept human blood prisoners in the deep past. Now she had the honor of getting to stay here.
“You know how to treat a girl, Domingo,” she said, as he pushed her into the room. Jensen closed the door behind them. A dim, naked bulb swung above them, casting moving shadows across the barren room.
“You are being punished, Isabella. This can end right now. Agree to be my wife, carry my children, and we can be done with it.”
“Um. No,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m not going to marry a guy who throws me in a dungeon. I have higher standards than that. This whole rapey, serial killer thing you have going on, just doesn’t do it for me.” He slapped her across the face; it threw her head back and made her jaw crack and throb.
“Hitting me won’t make me change my mind,” she spat out. Blood spattered from her broken lip and wounded mouth. Great. This was going to swell up and look godawful later.
Her thoughts went to Ashton and the night they’d spent together. What she wouldn’t give to be back with him now. She’d thought shifters to be brutes, but her own kind were proving to be much worse. This was exactly the reason she’d avoided her father for the last twenty years. He was such an asshole.
“Fuck you, Domingo. You and my father can both suck it,” she said, laughing.
“Watch your words, Isabella. You may just get what you ask for,” he wiped a drop of her blood from his face and turned to go, slamming the door and locking it behind him.
Isabella sighed and slumped down on the bed. She wouldn’t marry that douchebag voluntarily. If her father thought he could convince her this way, he was sorely mistaken. If they wanted to make her marry him, they would have to force her, and what would that accomplish? She’d just leave the first chance she got. They couldn’t possibly think this would end the way they wanted.
She stared up at the tiny window above her room, the moonlight glowed down through the night and she could see shadows play in the darkness. She opened her vampire senses to take in the night, feel the wind, and smell the blooming jasmine.
Ashton’s scent tingled in the background, behind the smell of vampires. She could hear his gentle footfalls somewhere in the castle. He’d come after her. She smiled then frowned. Surely if she could sense him the others could too. He wasn’t safe here. They’d kill him for trespassing as soon as they saw him.
Her heart bashed against her chest at the thought of her father and his goons finding her lover. Damn it. She didn’t want him involved in this. She’d never forgive herself if they killed him. She barely knew the lion shifter, but she didn’t want him harmed. She liked him.
She liked everything about him––his sense of humor, his artwork, his big, commanding hands. She loved how he held her and made love to her. Ashton was a wizard in the bedroom and the perfect man in her opinion. Even if he was a shifter and she barely knew him. She wanted to get to know him better. She didn’t want him sucked dry by a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires.
She had to get out of this dungeon and warn him to ge
t the hell away. This was her problem, not his. Even if she never saw him again, at least she would know he was safe. She picked up the bucket in the corner and hurled it at the tiny window. It clanged to the ground, but she could see the hairline crack in the glass.
She picked up the bucket again and hurled it at the window a second time. When the bucket smashed to the floor, the door opened and Domingo stood before her, anger flaring in his eyes.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I’m trying to break out of here, you idiot. You do realize that the first second I can, I’m gone. Why even bother trying to force me to do this?”
“Santiago will hunt you to the ends of the Earth. You are his daughter and his heir. He will compel you to his will.”
“And exactly how is he going to do that? His vampire mind control doesn’t work on me. I’m not fully human. I’m not that weak.” She laughed and leaned against the stone wall, crossing her arms.
Domingo flew across the room as if weightless and was on top of her in an instant. He pressed his body against hers, his teeth piercing the skin of her neck. He licked the blood that flowed over his tongue and then looked up at her.
“I will have you. You will have my child. If I have to take you by force to put it in you, so be it.”
“I’ll never stay.”
“You’ll stay after I change you. You’ll understand once the human taint is gone from your body. We can’t change you yet. We need your human womb. But after my child is born, you will become a full vampire.”
Chapter Eleven
She pushed against him, panic rising in her chest. The horror of his words stung her soul. She didn’t want to be a full vampire. She didn’t want to lose her human side, the side like her mother––the only person who had ever loved her. She definitely didn’t want to have his rape baby.
“Get off me, you monster,” she screamed before he caught her mouth in a kiss. She could feel his manhood hard against her stomach as he fumbled with her thin pajama pants. His hand sank between her legs, cupping her mound. She squealed and tried to get away, but he held her tight.
His finger pushed inside her as his tongue pushed into her mouth. “No,” she managed before he bit her lip with his fangs. She screamed, a loud piercing scream that reverberated through the house.
The sound of roaring shot through the room and suddenly, Domingo was on the floor, his neck broken. “Come on,” Ashton said, in a half growl as he shifted to human form in front of her. He grabbed her hand, and they ran through the basement and up a narrow staircase.
“He won’t be out long,” she said breathlessly.
“I know,” Ashton whispered, pushing open the door. They were outside on the ground floor on the side of the house. Isabella looked around in panic, expecting someone to jump on them any second. “Hurry,” Ashton said, leading her into the shadows. They ran along the wall until they neared the gate.
Ashton stopped and turned to her. “Jump on my back,” he said.
“What?” she whisper yelled before he hunched over and shifted into mountain lion form. He was huge, taller than Isabella. She recoiled instinctively before he cocked his head back. She climbed on his back and grabbed clumps of hide and flesh tightly in her hands. Ashton crouched, ready to pounce to the high wall. She leaned forward as he jumped and let out a little screech. Ashton landed on the wall and then dropped to the ground below.
He hurried through the forest and stopped near a pile of brush. She slid from his back and he shifted, standing before her in his magnificent human form. Isabella watched his back muscles work as he pulled the brush away, revealing his motorcycle. He gripped the handlebars and began to push it through the woods toward the road.
When they were clear of the lights of the house, they got on and turned on the motor. “Come on,” he said. She hurried to climb onto the back of bike and they sped away. A loud cry rang through the trees, coming from the mansion.
Isabella clung tighter to Ashton. How would she ever get away from them? Fear ran down her spine and sank in her stomach. She huddled closer to Ashton, smelling his skin, praying that he could save her from her horrible family.
They drove fast down the coast and pulled into town. She looked around in fright. This wasn’t far enough away. They needed to get out of town, out of the state, out of the country. He drove through a quaint neighborhood and drove into a garage, where he parked. They got off the bike and Ashton closed the garage door behind them.
“What are we doing here, Ashton? We need to leave town. They’ll find us here.”
“They won’t look right under their noses,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her through the door leading into the kitchen of the big house. A couple stood in the dining room, staring at Ashton and Isabella as they hurried by.
“Why are you naked, Ashton?” the man said. He looked so like Ashton she knew it was his brother. The black haired woman just stood there, gaping.
“Fleeing from vampires. No time to get new clothes.” Ashton pulled Isabella through the house and toward the stairwell.
“Wait,” the man said. “Who is that?”
Ashton stopped and sighed. “This is Isabella Amador. I’m saving her from her psycho father who intends to marry her off against her will,” he said as if it were obvious.
“You got in the middle of vampire business?” the man bellowed.
“Isabella, this is my brother, Ronan and his wife Makayla.”
“Nice to meet you,” said quietly. They were shifters. She could smell it. This was the last place she wanted to be. “Look, I just need to get out of town. It’s better if I leave.”
“Wait, wait. Your father can’t force you marry against your will,” Makayla said.
“Of course he can,” said Ronan. “He’s a vampire. THE vampire, right?”
“My father is Don Santiago Cortez Amador, High Lord of the Cascade coven. How did you know?”
“Because if there is dangerous stupid trouble, my brother will find it,” Roman said.
“I found him,” Isabella said. She was getting more nervous by the second. They should be half way to California by now. Fleeing for her life was the only way. “It was nice to meet you, but I really must go,” she said, trying to be polite. Her blood pulsed in her ears, leaving her nearly deaf.
“Let her go, Ashton,” Ronan said. “You have no business stopping her.”
“No. There is no way I’m leaving her to those people. Isabella, come with me,” Ashton said, pulling her up the stairs. She followed him, her ability to make decisions temporarily stifled by her growing fear. Her father had never threatened her like this before. He’d never laid a hand on her. He’d barely even recognized her existence most of her life. Now, when he wanted to use her for his own aims, he went full psycho control freak on her.
Ashton brought her to his bedroom and began rifling through is drawers. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, boots, and a leather jacket. “Here,” he said, offering her a heavy sweatshirt.
She pulled it over her head and followed him back downstairs where he stuffed a bag with food from the cabinets and fridge. “What are you doing?” his brother asked. Ashton didn’t answer as he opened a cookie jar and pulled out a wad of cash.
“Ashton, this is stupid,” Ronan told him. Ashton turned to his brother and growled.
“You’ve never believed in me, Ronan. For once in my life, I’m doing the right thing. I’m protecting this girl. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like an object to be pushed around on a chess table. She’s a person. She has rights. Just because she’s a vampire, doesn’t mean she should be treated like a slave.”
Ashton went to the door and opened it. “Just…take care of yourself, Ashton,” Ronan said. Ashton nodded at his brother and pulled Isabella into the garage.
Chapter Twelve
Ashton felt anger grip his chest. Ronan always treated him like an idiot. He and his brother were different, but Ronan believed his way was the only way. Ever since
Ashton was a kid and Ronan was a teenager, Ronan looked down on him. He thought he was a screw up, just because he liked to have a good time. Ronan was always so serious. Ashton didn’t think that was any way to live.
“Get on,” he said to Isabella as he climbed on his bike and turned on the motor. She climbed on behind him and gripped his waist. He could sense her heart beating fast as a hummingbird’s wings. Hit the garage door opener on his bike and they sped out onto the road.
“Where are we going?” she asked him, grabbing his waist more tightly.
“You’ll see.”
He sped up the street and pulled onto the highway headed south. They hurried down the road and turned onto the highway east, through the mountains. The spring flowers bloomed in vibrant colors as the morning sun spread out over the hillsides. After climbing high into the coastal mountains, Ashton found the right turn off that would take him deeper into the woods.
The road turned into gravel and finally dead-ended. He cut his motor and helped Isabella get off. “Are we lost?” she asked as he pushed the bike into the bushes.
“Nope.” He covered his bike with brush and began to pull off his clothes. Isabella’s eyes swept over his body as he stuffed his things in the backpack. She grinned up at her and winked. He could smell her desire for him, even in human form. The little vampire wanted him as badly as he wanted her. Running from her psycho vampire daddy hadn’t changed that. “Here,” he said, handing her the backpack. “Put this on.”
He shifted, contorting into a massive mountain lion. He nodded for her to get on his back. She climbed on his back, and he bounded into the forest. The trail to Ronan’s cabin was long and winding through the dense forest, but he knew it like the back of his hand. He’d been to his brother’s cabin dozens of times in the years Ronan lived in the woods. Ashton had been the only person to ever visit him.
His Lion Blood Page 4