Primal Attraction (Shadowlands Bear Shifters Book 2)

by Olivia Harp

  He grabbed her in his arms, not even noticing when he shifted back, completely naked.

  Some neighbors were walking out now, their faces curious, what had just happened?

  He knew he couldn’t leave her there or she’d face the wrath of the Human Protection Services. She was unregistered, and now he knew the reason.

  He picked Faith up and searched for his keys. There they are, on the pavement, next to his ripped, useless clothes. He grabbed everything, he wasn’t leaving anything behind until he fully understood what was happening.

  Mav placed her on the passenger side of his truck. Jumped over to the other side and blasted away, just in time before the neighbor’s curiosity overcame their fear.

  Chapter 10

  The engine vroomed beneath Maverick, he was almost there. Faith was just barely awake, her blood stained the cabin, but the wound had thankfully closed.

  He was going full speed, getting to the mountain in half as long as it usually took him. As soon as he got on the trail up the White Paws territory he took out his cell phone and dialed Enzo’s number.

  Pick up the phone, man, pick up the phone. It rang four times before a half asleep voice answered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Enzo! I need your help!”

  “Mav? Are you okay? What happen—?”

  Enzo’s sluggish tone became urgent in an instant, he was now fully awake.

  “I’m bringing someone with me, she’s hurt, she’s lost a lot of—”

  He jerked the wheel hard and the truck slid, almost going off road, he braked and pressed the accelerator again, regaining control of the vehicle.

  Faith’s hand grabbed his leg.

  “Slow, go slow,” she said faintly.

  She’s right, if I crash here it’ll be another thirty minutes uphill. So he composed himself. He’d never felt so frantic before. She looked bad but in her state still had more sense than him. Enzo yelled on the phone, he took a deep breath and brought it to his ear again.

  “Sorry, man. I’m bringing in a friend, she’s lost a lot of blood, we need to help her.”

  “What?” Enzo said, “take her to a hospital!”

  “If I could, I would, asshole! I’ll be there soon, get everything ready!”

  Enzo said something but Mav’s attention was elsewhere. He held Faith’s hand.

  “You’ll be fine, just hold on a little longer.”

  ***

  Finally, the Headquarters were in sight. It was a big area composed of three square buildings, the Lab, Comms Tower and the Workshop.

  Enzo and Damien were waiting for him. He parked the car and opened the passenger’s door, taking Faith in his arms, going into the Lab.

  “What happened?” Enzo said following him. Damien, his alpha, did not say a word, his face was stern, maybe a bit worried, but hard at the same time.

  “We got attacked.”

  “What?” Enzo said as Mav laid Faith on the small hospital bed they had there. Her eyes were open, looking up at the ceiling, unresponsive, the gash on the base of her neck was black, a foul smell emanated from it.

  Enzo knelt beside her, his hand going to her neck, then her wrists.

  “Don’t bother. She’s got no vitals.” Damien said.

  Mav looked at him, then at Enzo.

  “She’s a vampire,” Mav finally said.

  Enzo stood up, looking at Maverick, his face shifted from worried to quizzical.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood,” he said, “the wound on her back looks infected. I’ll prepare everything for the transfusion.”

  He went to the back of the lab, opened a small fridge full of jars, liquids, meds and all sort of shit the government had up there for them in case they needed it.

  He opened a plastic case and took two small plastic bags full of blood. Then started looking beneath a counter for something.

  “Are you hurt?” Damien asked.

  Mav turned to him, Enzo was throwing things away as he looked for whatever he was trying to find.

  Faith’s mouth opened, her fangs on full display now, her hands twitching.

  “Yeah, boss, I’m fine,” Mav said, “I had to bring her in. Enzo, she’s shivering hard.”

  “The beast is taking hold of her,” Enzo said, coming from the back, a small plastic tube with a long needle in one hand; the bags of plasma in the other.

  “Shit,” Maverick said.

  This was the reason people hated vampires. Whenever they starved, the beast inside took control, sending them into a murderous frenzy.

  When they were first discovered, decades ago, people tried to accept them. They were mysterious and sensual, they were interesting.

  The world went through a brief vampire fad. Human fashionistas started wearing more and more extreme clothes. Everyone wanted to be a “creature of the night.”

  Then the first vampire went into a frenzy in a small, rural town in Nevada. He attacked a farmer in front of his family and almost overnight the world turned to them. They either registered or died.

  The ones who registered were confined to small areas, mostly away from people —because who’d want to leave next to a predator?

  They lost their freedom and were treated like second class citizens. Then word got out that the government wanted to experiment on them and most disappeared. It was a mess, a global crisis.

  And now, Maverick had brought a night stalker to their home, and it was about to go on a rampage.

  Enzo finished placing the blood bags on the high stand, he was ready.

  “Hold her for me, please,” Enzo said.

  Damien and Maverick grabbed her arms and held her down. Enzo pressed the needle against her wrist and blood poured inside.

  As soon as it touched her vein, Faith jerked away, dropping the stand to the floor.

  “It’s okay, beautiful, you’re good,” Maverick said, unable to hide his trembling voice, “you’re going to be fine.”

  Enzo tried inserting the needle in her arm again but it was impossible: her arms were stone hard, her hands claws.

  “Damn it,” he said.

  “Faith, listen to me, it’s Maverick, I need you to calm down. You’re safe. We’re going to help you.”

  Her eyes were black and she tried to break free, her spasmic movements stronger than ever, a soft growl caught in her throat. Maverick placed one hand in her forehead, caressing her softly.

  “I’m here, it’s Maverick, you will be fine.”

  Her snarling stopped and her eyes slowly shifted from jet black to a very human hazel brown, a tear ran down her cheek, “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice full of pain.

  Mav didn’t think. He grabbed her and lifted her in his arms, holding her tight from the waist.

  “What are you doing?” He heard Enzo yell as he rushed out of the Lab and into the clear area outside.

  “Drink me!” he said.

  Faith was bending down to him, visibly fighting back the urge to sink her teeth into him, trying to control her beast, realizing what he wanted her to do. He sensed her holding back, trying as much as she could to get away from him, but he grabbed her head and pushed it to his neck.

  “Drink me, Faith,” he whispered in her ear.

  Her muscles relaxed under his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, as her sharp fangs sunk into his skin.

  Chapter 11

  Pain flared up like an explosion on the left side of his neck. Then, a second later, it faded into a soft, delicious sensation. As if submerged under hot water after a snowstorm, he felt her sucking him, her mouth taking him in a sensual embrace.

  He relaxed, she had barely taken a drop or two when she fell into his embrace. She sucked again, his blood rushing to her, and her whole body started warming up. A minute ago it was dead cold but now?

  Now her skin was hot, it almost felt as if she was a human.

  He held her tight and realized she was no longer drinking him, her tears were warming up the side of his face.

  “
Faith,” he whispered.

  Her eyes were fixed on the horizon, lost in the distance, unmoving. Her mouth opened impossibly wide, her face covered in sweat. She had returned to normal, her fangs retracted inside her gums.

  “Are you okay?” he felt the wounds on his neck heal, her bite had been nothing to him.

  She turned to him, her eyes trying to find something he couldn’t describe. Her lips trembled and she said “I’m okay.”

  Then she spasmed hard, lifting her chest hard against him. A muffled scream got caught in her throat, then silence.

  She was unconscious.

  ***

  “What happened to her?” said Enzo as soon as Maverick was back outside from his cabin.

  “I don’t know. She seems to be sleeping,” Mav said.

  “What are you going to do?” said Damien, “you said you were attacked.”

  “I dealt with the problem.”

  “How did you—?”

  “I killed the man who attacked us. I think he was a vampire, too.”

  Both went silent for a moment. He was sure Damien would’ve done the same. It was self-defense.

  “Is it safe to have her around?” Enzo asked.

  Maverick tensed, “you’re afraid of a vamp—”

  “I’m not afraid of anything,” Enzo interrupted, “but she could attract the Rot. Besides, what about Zoe? She might frighten her. She wasn’t born a bear shifter, you know.”

  “I’m not scared,” a woman’s voice said. It was her. She was walking up in the trail that led to Mav’s cabin. It was three hundred or so paces after Damien’s, the trail started at the headquarters and led to each of the bear’s cabins.

  Zoe had learned to shift into bear form and was fully aware of her power. Damien had been the perfect mate and she knew vampires were not a real threat to bear shifters, unless they messed up.

  Damien looked at her in silence.

  “Is she a threat?” she asked.

  Maverick thought hard on this one, he couldn’t see how she could be one.

  “No, she isn’t. I know her. I take full responsibility for her actions.”

  Enzo nodded, “what about the Rot—?”

  “Does she mean anything to you, Mav?” Damien interrupted.

  As his alpha, Maverick knew he understood them better than anyone else. Sometimes, better than they understood themselves.

  “Yes,” he said, “she’s my—” mate his bear growled inside. He caught himself, stood silent for a moment.

  “She’s my friend,” he said.

  Damien studied him, then nodded.

  “All right. We have a guest. Tomorrow I’ll tell Franklin and Raiden about the situation. We’ll see how it progresses. Do you need help?”

  Maverick shook his head.

  “Thank you, boss.”

  “Sleep. You have work to do tomorrow. We have to keep our eyes open, now more than ever.”

  Chapter 12

  Faith opened her eyes in a dark room. She jumped up from the couch she was laying on. Where am I? How did I get here?

  Her eyes adjusted to the dark. Vampires didn’t need much light to be able to at least see things around them. She was laying on an L–shaped leather sofa. A small coffee table with a glass tray full of candy sat on a rug, over hardwood floor.

  Memories started coming back to her.

  The attack at her house, the bite at the base of her neck, Maverick fighting back. Where is he? She reached behind, and touched her wound. She gasped as a bolt of pain flashed from her neck to her toes. Cold shivers ran down her skin. Her index and middle finger had transparent brown liquid on them. It was disgusting.

  She stood to walk but after only two steps she had to lean against the sofa to stop herself from falling. She stood in the dark long enough to recover, looking around, trying to focus on something else as she waited for the dizziness to go away.

  Two red and a green points of light shone on the far wall. She focused on them and recognized a huge TV set and other electronics.

  Then she heard a knock on the door.

  “Faith, are you awake? It’s Maverick.”

  She felt her chest ache. She didn’t want to see him. She was ashamed. She’d done something terrible, she almost got him killed. She’d made a vow long ago to never let the beast take her. That’s why she wandered into clubs sometimes. That’s why she forced herself to mingle among her prey. I’m not a monster.

  “Faith?” Mav said from outside.

  Then she remembered. I bit him. The monster came out and I drank Maverick. Her chest was heavy now. She felt like running away into the sunlight. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, she’d never stop being this.

  The door opened slowly, he didn’t want to wake her up.

  “Faith?” he said.

  She had to hold back her tears. She had to be strong.

  “You’re awake,” he said, approaching her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry I—”

  But he didn’t let her finish, he held her tight.

  “It’s not your fault,” he said, caressing her hair, “It’s not your fault.”

  She stayed in his arms for a while. She had forgotten this. How he made her feel. She’d been a loner for a long time now, the feeling of companionship coming back to her like a bucket of cold water.

  Beware, Faith. You’re letting him in too close, he deserves better. She could feel his heart beating inside his chest, she melted in his warm embrace, forgetting about the beast for a second.

  “Everything is taken care of,” he said, “I called some people, it’s set up as if it was a break in.”

  She let go and looked at him.

  “But... the blood in my fridge...”

  “I told them you have a medical condition. They didn’t even mention it.”

  Her body had been a hard, tense knot and she hadn’t realized. Those words were enough for her to relax. The wound in her back was hot and itchy, but it was getting better.

  “Can I make a phone call? I need to check up on someone,” she said.

  “Sure, you’re free to do anything you want,” Mav said, “except eat all of the Reese’s butter cups. I’m addicted to those things.”

  She laughed, “thank you, I wouldn’t worry about that.”

  He gave her her cell phone, completely charged now and went out to the kitchen, she needed some privacy. After a few minutes Faith came out of the rec room, and found Mav reading something on a tablet.

  “Everything okay?” he said, she nodded.

  He smiled and took her arm, “come on, I’ll show you around my house.”

  ***

  It was late night. The sun had come up and gone down again and she hadn’t woken up from her deathly slumber until now. They visited every room of his cabin. I If you can call this a cabin. It was really a beautiful, rustic but very equipped two story house. Almost as big as a mansion and decorated as if money was not a problem: hardwood and marble floors, big, floor to ceiling windows, and of course, the rec room, where she’d slept.

  He had all kinds of electronics there: big TV, Blu–ray, Internet, a dynamic —or whatever he called it— surround sound, a laptop and stereo.

  “And here,” he continued, “is the thermostat.”

  It wasn’t a regular thermostat, it had a color screen and a Wi–Fi symbol on it.

  “You can set it at whatever you like, just download the app, it’s super easy.”

  She let herself smile at that. Typical guy, a big fan of gadgets.

  “What are you laughing about?” he asked, his face happy to see her in a much better mood.

  “Nothing,” she said, covering her smile.

  “Come on, you can tell me.”

  “I’m just thinking your house is amazing. I love it.”

  “Thank you, built it myself.”

  Her jaw dropped, “are you kidding me?”

  “Well, me and the guys mostly, there were some people who helped with the finishing and the floor
s but the main structure? Yeah, we did it.”

  “What’s the name of your clan?”

  “The White Paws,” he said, subconsciously straightening up, beaming with pride.

  She thought about it.

  “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “Yeah, that’s on purpose. Bear clans like ours don’t like the attention.”

  “Really? You’re very powerful?”

  He stopped for a moment, then narrowed his eyes, his lips pressed in a funny matter.

  “Can I trust you?” he said.

  “You still ask that question after all we’ve been through?”

  “Yes, we’re kind of powerful,” he lied.

  The White Paws were not “kind of powerful.” They were the biggest, meanest, strongest, most “don’t–fuck–with–us” bear shifter clan on the country.

  “We’re having a barbecue tonight, wanna come?”

  Her eyes darted to the floor.

  “I...”

  “Zoe brought you some clothes earlier today, come on, you’ll have fun.”

  How could she say no? She vaguely remembered the night she came, big, burly men holding her down as she lost control. She was embarrassed.

  What, you’re not going out of the house ever? Let’s do this.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Chapter 13

  Pines towered around the house. The forest was thick, but there was a small trail that lead down to the headquarters.

  It had been years since she’d been out in the wilderness, she didn’t realize she missed it so much.

  She took a deep breath and remembered going camping with her family once, when she was a little girl. The face of her mother, his father laughing, holding her. Those memories had been hiding in the recesses of her mind, now brought back without warning. A pang of nostalgia filled her. Life was good back then, before she was turned into this.

  Darkness surrounded them as they moved from the house down the trail. Up ahead, a lamp post lit their path.

  “How do you—?” she asked, pointing to the post.

  “Solar power,” he said, “we have access to all kinds of tech here. We even have web access. Come on, I’ll show you.”