by Cynthia Eden
Heath nodded quickly.
The werewolves would attack instantly if they were confronted by a vampire. But if a human came calling…
Lorcan smiled. This human would definitely prove to be useful. And, when that usefulness was at an end, he would die.
***
Dawn was coming. Jane saw the faint streaks of gold and red across the sky. She tensed, her hands tightening around Alerac. “We need to stop!”
He didn’t respond.
He’d heard her, hadn’t he? With his shifter hearing, he must have.
But she still tried again, “We need to stop!”
The first time she’d gone out in the sunlight, Jane had been hit with a lethargy so strong that she’d almost keeled over. When day came, she just got weak. No other way to describe it. Her body wanted to shut down and curl in on itself. There was no way she could stay upright on that bike during the day.
The bike began to slow. They were nearing a rest area. A deserted looking place. He eased into the parking lot, and the other pack members fell in behind him.
“Vampires don’t burn in the sunlight.”
“I know that,” she muttered. She’d discovered that TV myth just fine on her own.
He shut off the bike.
“It makes me…weak.” A stark confession. She was sure that lethargy would hit her any moment. She needed a place to crash.
“You have my blood. You’ll be stronger now.” He seemed so certain. She wasn’t.
Jane hopped off the bike. Took off her helmet. She started to walk toward the shelter of the rest area.
Alerac caught her hand in his. “I know more about vampires than you do.”
He knew more about everything than she did, and that fact pissed her off. She was walking blindly, and she hated it.
“We’re close to my home. Just a few more hours to go.”
The sun was stretching higher into the sky with each moment that passed. The weakness hadn’t started.
Yet.
“A few more hours in sunlight,” she muttered as she tried to tug her hand from his. “I don’t want that, okay? I don’t want to fall off the bike. Don’t want to slam into the pavement and have you drag the poor, beaten vampire away.”
“That’s not going to happen.” A pause, then he said, “Trust me.”
She stopped tugging her hand and stared up at him.
“It’s okay to be afraid.”
Good. Because she was shaking in her shoes.
“But my blood is in you now. Werewolf blood is very strong. It’s going to protect you.” He kept staring into her eyes. “Trust me.” Then he pulled her straight into the faint sunlight.
She expected the lethargy, the weakness to hit her.
It didn’t.
“I told you, my blood protects you.”
Her breath caught. The sunlight was warm on her skin, and she didn’t feel the usual weakness. Not even a little.
His gaze seemed to see right into her soul. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
In that instant, standing in the sunlight, strength still coursing through her, she almost believed him. But deep inside, a soft voice whispered…
He lies.
***
“Tell me about the man who took Jane.”
Hannah Wylee frowned across the bar. The place should have been closed. It was long past dawn, and she should be at home, sleeping.
But just as she’d been ready to leave, he’d come in.
Tall. Muscled. With icy eyes that seemed to see right through her.
She didn’t even remember when everyone else had left. Didn’t remember how she’d wound up alone with him in that empty place.
“Jane,” he repeated the name softly. “Where is she?”
Hannah shook her head. “I-I don’t know.” Jane had run off, left without a word. Damn inconvenience. Now she’d have to get another waitress. She’d tried to call Heath and ram into him about Jane. Talk about ungrateful. After all she’d done for the woman. But Heath had been dodging her.
Probably because he knew how pissed she was.
“Someone else was here, someone was after Jane.” His voice seemed to pour into Hannah.
Her brow furrowed. She felt like they’d been talking about Jane for a long time, but she couldn’t be sure.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Hannah,” he murmured. There was no accent in his voice. Just darkness. “But I will, if you don’t tell me what I need to know.”
His words should have terrified her, yet she found there was no room for terror. She felt frozen. No, she was frozen. Hannah couldn’t make herself move.
And he was coming ever closer to her.
He lifted his hand. His fingers curled around her neck. “The last night that Jane was here, what happened?”
“A-a man came in.” She remembered that. That guy had filled the doorway, catching her eyes. Big and rough—scary. “I think Jane ran from him.”
Those fingers tightened on her throat. “What did his eyes look like?”
She frowned, searching her memory. “He…he had on glasses.” Sunglasses, inside the bar. More memories pushed through her mind. “I sent my bouncers after him.” No one messed with her staff.
“What happened to them?”
“The guy took ‘em down.” She’d had to fire them. What good were bouncers who couldn’t control one guy?
His hold was heavy on her throat. “And did he hurt Jane?”
She shook her head, or tried to. “She left. Ran out the front. Alone.” Hannah thought that was the truth. “I haven’t seen her since.”
He stared down at her.
She couldn’t look away from him.
He sighed. “Hannah, I need to know the truth. Don’t worry, it will only hurt for a moment.”
He was beautiful. Gorgeous. The best-looking man she’d ever seen. And something was wrong with her. He’d done something to her, she knew he had. Because she wouldn’t have told him so much about Jane. Wouldn’t have shut herself in there alone with him.
What did he do?
She forced herself to speak. “Wh-what will hurt?”
“This.”
She expected him to strangle her. But his head ducked toward her throat. Something sharp sliced across her jugular.
Hannah didn’t even have the chance to scream.
***
It was cold. The air had grown increasingly chilled as they drove—drove up higher and higher into the mountains.
Alerac had given her a jacket that he’d taken from his saddle-bag. Leather. One that smelled of him. One that made her feel strangely comforted.
Just as he did.
She hadn’t burned in the sunlight.
She hadn’t even felt weak.
His blood? Yes, it had to be.
I drank from him. The knowledge should have horrified her. It didn’t.
Up, up, they went, until it seemed that they were in the very clouds. Dark clouds that threatened a coming storm.
They’d stopped only to refuel. Kept driving and driving. It had been more than just a few hours.
And now…
Heavy gates swung shut behind them. Iron. Clanging closed.
Alerac turned off his motorcycle. “You’re home.”
Home.
She stared up at the heavy structure. This wasn’t what she’d expected. Made of thick, white stones, the massive house seemed to spring right from the mountain. Glass windows looked out into the coming night. Bright lights shone from within.
Her werewolf lived…here?
The cold air chilled her lungs as she moved away from the bike. There were a few other houses, much smaller, nestled along the mountain. Homes for his pack members?
“You’ll be safe here,” he promised her.
She truly wanted to believe him.
But when she looked into his eyes, they were hot and hard. Hungry. For her.
They were on his turf, and he’d already told her exactly what he wanted. The price
she had to pay for the safety he provided.
Could she pay that price?
He took her hand. Since she couldn’t very well just stand there in the growing cold, she followed him. The other werewolves dispersed, heading toward the other houses. Then she and Alerac were inside.
The first thing that Jane noticed was the fire. It blazed in a massive fireplace. Her gaze slowly slid away from the flames, and Jane saw a winding staircase that led up to the higher levels of the house. It looked like there were at least two more floors up there.
“Your bedroom is at the top of the stairs.”
She glanced at him. “My room?” Just to be clear.
“Our room,” he corrected as he raised one brow.
So he was still holding to that.
The door swung open behind them. Jane turned so see Liam heading inside. “Doesn’t look like we were followed, yet.”
Alerac inclined his head. “They’ll come calling soon enough. We’ll be ready for them.”
The fire wasn’t chasing away the chill in her bones. “Why is it that they want me dead?” Betrayal, check. But it was time for her to get some specifics. If she was going to be hunted every minute, Jane figured that she deserved to know why.
“Rest.” Alerac glanced toward the stairs. “Then you can—”
Screw resting. “Why don’t I have any memories?”
He glanced back at Liam. “Call in the debts we have. See if you can find me a witch.”
Again with the witch talk. That talk made her nervous, but she pushed on, “Why can’t I remember anything? We’re here, we’re supposedly safe. Just tell me.”
Liam hurried into another room. She thought he muttered something like “Good luck with that,” on his way out.
Alerac waited until Liam was gone, then he put his hand to Jane’s back and guided her a little closer to the fire. “You can’t remember because you were made to forget.” His eyes were on her. Blazing now—brighter than the flames in that fireplace, and his eyes fully showed a stark, desperate need. “The vampire clan leader, Lorcan Teague, wanted you to forget me, so he made a witch put you under a spell.”
Her heart was pounding faster. Shaking her chest. Her fingers had a nervous tremble. “You said…I know we were lovers.”
That need got even sharper. Jane caught her breath.
“We were.” His eyes held her trapped. “But werewolves and vampires aren’t supposed to mate. We’re supposed to fight. To hate. To kill one another.” His fingers skimmed over her cheek. “Not to fuck.”
Okay, now the fire was a little too hot. Or maybe she was a little too hot. Jane edged back.
“We weren’t supposed to be together,” Alerac continued, and his fingers brushed back her hair. “And Lorcan wanted to make sure that when you were free, you didn’t remember me.”
His head bent.
She tensed.
His lips brushed over her throat.
A shiver slid over her. That shiver had nothing to do with nervousness and everything to do with desire. Her sex was suddenly aching. Her nipples were tight. When she’d taken his blood before, it had been as if a gate had broken open inside of her. She’d been flooded with emotion. Need.
Lust.
For him.
“The bastard thought I’d be long dead by the time you were free. That you wouldn’t remember what he’d done.” His voice roughened even more. “I showed him.” Another sensual press of his lips along her throat.
Her knees were starting to feel funny. “Why would you be…long dead?”
His head lifted. “Werewolves aren’t immortal.”
She’d never get used to those glowing eyes. Eyes that saw in to her.
“You were locked away.”
“Locked away?”
“I don’t know where. I couldn’t find you. I looked and I looked, but you were gone.”
Her lips had turned desert dry. “For how long?”
She’d demanded the truth, but in that instant, Jane didn’t think she wanted to hear—
“Two hundred years.”
No, she definitely hadn’t wanted to hear that truth.
Chapter Five
Jane was in his home. Where he could keep her safe.
He could hear the rush of the shower’s water pounding down on her. After he’d told her that she’d been imprisoned for over two hundred years, he’d expected more questions. Instead, she’d turned and headed up the stairs without a word.
He’d followed her.
He felt like he was always fuckin’ following her.
She won’t get away again.
He stood before the closed bathroom door. Jane was inside. Naked.
He’d stripped off his own shirt. Now he wore only a pair of loose jeans that hung on his hips.
Did Jane realize just how delicate his control was? Probably not. She didn’t seem to understand just how desperately his beast wanted her.
His wolf had been denied its mate for far too long.
He couldn’t be denied any longer.
The water stopped.
Rustles. Whispers.
Move away. It would be wise to move away from the door. To give her some space, but…
The wolf within him wasn’t letting him move. The man was at the end of his rope. Too hungry for her. Too desperate to reclaim what had been stolen from him.
No, he shouldn’t have lived for two hundred years. But he hadn’t been about to give up.
Sometimes, you didn’t realize what you had until it was gone.
The door creaked open.
Jane stood there, clad only in her towel.
Once you realized just how valuable some things—some people—were, you’d fight even the devil to get them back.
For her, he’d fight anyone. Everyone.
Her gaze lifted to find his. “Alerac…”
He reached for her. Kissed her before she could speak again. He loved her taste. It drove him wild.
Her skin was soft beneath his hands. Still wet from the shower. He wanted to lick that skin. He wanted to lick every single inch of her body.
Mate.
He’d never claimed her as his mate before. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
He lifted her up against him. Held her easily in his arms. She was so small and delicate. When they’d first met, and she’d still been more human than vampire, that delicacy had scared him.
She’d been too breakable.
He’d waited to take her then, so desperate for her to change and become a full vampire—so that he couldn’t hurt her.
A werewolf’s passion wasn’t an easy thing. Rough. Wild. Savage.
After waiting for so long now, that savagery was just beneath his surface.
His claws wanted to come out. He wanted to snarl and howl and take.
But the man held onto control. Barely.
He carried her toward the bed. Put her on the heavy covers. Pulled back to stare down at her.
Did she want him? He inhaled, desperate to see—
“Why do I feel this way?” Her voice was a husky stroke right over his skin. “No matter what happened before, I shouldn’t want you this badly.”
Yes, you should. “There’s nothing wrong with desire.” Not a damn thing.
Her wet hair spread behind her on the bed. The towel was knotted between her breasts.
She stared up at him. Her eyes were so blue. As blue as the skies over Ireland, the home she’d once had. “I don’t know you,” she whispered.
You did. “Then get to know me.” At first, he’d wanted her to get all of her memories back. But now, in truth, there were parts of their past that he never wanted her to remember. Selfish? Yeah, but it would be easier to forget those parts.
The betrayals. The lies.
He reached for her hand. Brought it to his lips. He kissed her knuckles and turned her hand over so that he could score his teeth over her palm.
Her breath hissed out.
“Your body knows me, and
I know it.” That towel needs to come off. He had to make this good for her, before the beast took over for him.
Too long.
“I’ve dreamed of you in this bed.” A stark confession from him.
Jane shook her head. “I never have dreams. Only darkness.”
When he’d lost his sight, she’d been the only light in his darkness.
He licked her palm. Then Alerac inhaled the tempting scent of her arousal. She wanted him. She feared him, but she wanted him.
He put her hand back on the bed. Let his fingers trail up the silken skin of her thighs.
“J-just so you know…” she told him, watching him with desire shadowing her eyes. “This isn’t because I owe you for my life.”
His fingers eased up a few more inches, pushing away that towel. “Then what is it about?”
She rasped out a quick breath. “Desire.”
Oh, he was well acquainted with desire.
“It’s not natural, the way I feel about you,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t want you this much.”
Yes, she should. “Maybe your body just remembers what your mind can’t.”
“Don’t…”
The one word had his head jerking up. If she was telling him to stop, to back away, he would.
For her, he’d do anything.
But then she said, “Don’t hurt me.”
She fuckin’ broke his heart. The heart too many had tried to carve right out of his chest. The heart he’d given to her two centuries before.
“I won’t.” Then he was unknotting that towel. Peeling it away from her body. She was just as she’d been in his dreams. Those perfect, round breasts with their pink-tipped nipples. The soft curve of her stomach. The lush flare of her hips.
The temptation of her sex—soft and pink and waiting.
He bent his head and took a breast between his lips. Licking. Sucking. Tasting. The nipple was hard and tight and he loved the way she gasped and arched toward him.
He kept tasting her, sampling her, even as his fingers slid down her stomach and pushed between her legs.
She was wet for him.
Already.
Yes.
Her hands were on his back, her nails lightly raking over his skin. He’d wanted her touch for too long.
His eyes squeezed shut as he kissed his way down her stomach.
“Alerac?”