by Jana Leigh
Cat’s Choice
The Chosen’s War Book One
By Jana Leigh
Co-Author Selena Cross
Contributors: Lucy Kelly
Edited by Rose Colton
Artwork by: MAKO SHAKOR
Published by JK Publishing LLC
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
(c) Copyright 2012 JK Publishing.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Dedication:
I have so many people to thank I don’t really know where to begin. Thank you to Lucy Kelly for being there when I needed someone desperately to bounce ideas off of, and Selena, you did an amazing job.
Of course, to my family who has had to eat take out for weeks to get all this stuff done, I love you. Mom, for always supporting me, no matter what I do.
And Finally:
The Wind Beneath My Wings, my Editor, friend, business partner, and the person, I swear most days keeps me on the straight and narrow. I love you. And you totally owe me a bottle of wine!
Prologue
Lightning crashed, and thunder boomed as the wind pelted large spears of rain against her already sensitive and broken skin; but she couldn’t stop running if she wanted to stay alive. Day was quickly turning to night and she knew he would be after her soon.
Her tears were washed away by the harsh rain, and her sobs could barely be heard over the loud thunder. She thought this would at least be one blessing because the storm would make it harder for him to hear her and to catch her scent. Perhaps, there was a god after all.
But she quickly pushed that thought away when images of her parents and her little sister flashed before her eyes. Their horrific screams as he tortured them and broke their bones. Then the ill silence as they lay lifeless in a pool of their own blood, while he stood over them with their blood dripping from his mouth. His eyes had a bright-red glow to them and oh god, those teeth, no; they weren’t teeth, they were fangs! The man was a Vampire .
No, she couldn’t let the images stall her. She could not break down and give up; she had to keep running. There, a cave that she could possibly hide in until the next day, she knew he wouldn’t be able to chase her in the day so it would be her only saving grace.
She ducked into the cave and ran as far into its darkness as she could. Something large and hard caught her feet, and she tumbled over it; face first, on to the dirt floor. Just as she started to push herself up, she heard it; at first soft, then ever growing rumbling of a growl. She turned her head and saw the large , yellow eyes looking back at her. Oh no, that wasn’t a rock she stumbled over , but a large animal, possibly a bear.
It came closer to her as she lay still, watching it as best she could, in the darkness. She felt its muzzle on her, sniffing her. Then she didn’t feel anything at all; she couldn’t even see its eyes. Did it leave? Then suddenly a man’s face was in front of hers. Thankfully not the face of her captor, but his eyes glowed yellow, and he looked just as evil.
“Chi la sono?” Who are you? Is all she heard of his snarly voice before her world went black.
***
Caterina sat up in her bed abruptly. Sweat poured from her brow, and her lungs burned as she gasped for air. She looked around at her surroundings, not remembering where she was at the moment. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and when they did, she saw that she was in her room, safe and sound.
A thud against the window made her jump, but when she looked over, she saw it was just a tree branch hitting the glass because of the strong wind brought on by the storm. Her body shivered as the word storm entered her consciousness. Caterina hated storms; they always brought the memories back. She hated to remember, she always tried to push the thoughts away. It was better for her that way. But when it stormed, especially at night, her dreams would force her to relive everything all over again.
Caterina pushed the blankets off her and swung her legs over the edge of the bed to stand. She walked into her small en-suite bathroom and went to the sink to splash her face. As the cool water hit her skin, the images in her head began to fade. Finally, after the shaking stopped, and she felt she had washed away all the sweat and tears from her face, she stood straight and took a look at herself in the mirror. She did this to remind herself that she was not that same girl five years ago. She was not a scared child running for her life from some horrific monster. She was safe and she was strong, thanks to the help of her best and dearest friend. She knew if she had not met him that night, she would be dead by now, or worse, a slave to that horrible man. No, not a man, but a Vampire . If she had not run into his cave, she would have never been saved from the Vampire ‘s clutches. Adolfo was the very best thing that had happened to her.
Without Adolfo, Caterina would not have lived; she would not have escaped. He kept her hidden, deeper in th e cave, until the following day. Then he ran with her, to the nearest train station and acted as her body guard as they got as far from Italy as they could. They took a plane to America, thanks to Adolfo having money to do so. He had explained to her that he didn’t live in that cave but in a house not too far away from it. That cave was on his property, and he sometimes liked to go there just to rest as his wolf. He said he had been running in the woods when the storm started, and it was closer than his house, so he went into the cave to wait it out. Apparently, Adolfo was well enough off, because when they got to America, he supported them as they moved from state to state.
Caterina hated the moving, but they had to, because wherever they stopped just for a while, it seemed a Vampire would turn up wanting Caterina. One time she had actually gotten an explanation from one of them before they tried to drain her and ultimately died when Adolfo ripped them to shreds. It had something to do with her blood; there was something special about it that called to them. Caterina often wished she could remove that ‘special’ part of her blood so the Vampire s would leave her alone, and she could live in peace. But that wasn’t possible.
Caterina left the bathroom and crawled back into her bed. She sat there staring through the window, wondering when it would be that she and Adolfo would have to move again. She wondered why Adolfo would put up with her and go through this mess with her for so long. The Vampire s weren’t after him; he could just walk away and never have to deal with them again. She knew it wasn’t because he was in love with her. They had tried being a couple once when things were a bit more peaceful for a time. But they soon found that they were not meant to be more than friends.
She would ask Adolfo many times why he stayed with her for so long when it would have been better for him to let her go. He would always answer, “Because you are special , Caterina. I look at you, and I see something that I have never seen before. I feel that because of you that one day, life will be better for all of us, shifters and humans alike. I look at you, and I see hope.”
Caterina snorted, hope, there was nothing hopeful about Caterina’s situation. There was only doubt and uncertainty; but no h
ope. She had changed her hair so many times she wondered if the true color was still even there. Her hair , now long and dark, flowed around her shoulders, and she loved the times where she could sit and brush it like her mother used to do. But the next time they move d , she would have to change it —probably a lighter color —that ‘s what they did. She was happy at least that her curls remained ; although when she cut it shorter, every time it grew out , the curls were a little bigger each time. But her green eyes never changed, and it was the only thing that kept her knowing who was looking at her in the mirror. Her face round and full never seemed to change, no matter how much her weight fluctuated . She had a baby face and lived with it, though her hair , in its natural color , was pale brown ; she liked it when her hair was dyed red, it seemed to match her eyes a little better. Maybe next time she would change it to a fiery red, shit, no , she couldn’t; it would draw attention. Sighing, Caterina forced herself to relax and lay still . Maybe she could go back to sleep.
She lay down on her pillow and stared at her ceiling for a while. She wondered if Diavolo still hunted her. She remembered when she met him. She was working at a small cafe in her village, and she was just cleaning up and closing for the night when he entered . He didn’t seem so evil when she first met him. Actually, he was quite charming and handsome. He took her on a few dates, and they always seemed to have great fun together. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why his parents would stick him with such an awful name as devil —u ntil he changed. He asked her to come away with him, to live with him in his home in Umbria. Caterina had told him he was moving too quickly, and she was still in school. She didn’t want to leave her parents because they were both disabled and unable to fend for themselves. She thought he would understand, but he became angry. Then one night he showed up at her house and attacked her family. That’s when she saw the reason, he was named devil. He slaughtered her family, drinking their blood as he did it. Then, when he was done , he said, “There , now you do not need to care for them anymore and have no reason not to come with me.”
He really gave her no choice after that; he just took her to his castle right outside Umbria where he imprisoned her in one of the rooms during the day. It wasn’t a dungeon where he had her, it was actually quite a beautiful room and comfortable. His donors, as he called them, would be her servants during the day, bringing her food, clothing, anything she needed , really. But during the night, Diavolo would come to her and rape her, taking her blood. She didn’t understand why he was doing this to her, but he would often say she was the key. The key to what? Even now she didn’t know what exactly she was the key to.
She knew when he would come to her, he would say it didn’t work and that maybe he needed just a little more blood. Then he would take her blood again while he forced himself on her. He wouldn’t really have to physically restrain her to do it, just use some sort of compulsion, and she would do whatever he wished. But after a while, Caterina had given up and would allow him to do as he wished without even using the compulsion.
Then one night he came to her in a rage. He said he didn’t understand why it wasn’t working, and he was tired of waiting. He beat her and drained her to within an inch of her life before he left her to die in her bed. The servants had come in the morning and seen she still lived. They tried nursing her back to health as much as they could, then help ed her escape the castle before nightfall.
Caterina often wondered what happened to the servants—no doubt; he probably killed them all for helping her escape.
A large crash downstairs had Caterina jumping from her bed and rushing out the door to see what it was. When she got halfway down the stairs, she stopped, frozen where she stood. There, in front of her, was a grueling seen. Adolfo was fighting with a Vampire , holding him d own as much as he could. But unlike the other Vampire s Adolfo had destroyed for her safety, this one was strong enough to push Adolfo off of him.
Adolfo flew off the Vampire and hit the wall on the other side of the living room. Then it stood and faced Caterina. That’s when Caterina felt all the blood rush out of her head and terror claw at her insides. There, standing before her, was none other than Diavolo.
He rushed toward the stairs and got to the first one before Adolfo tackled him back down. She watched the fighting because she couldn’t get her body to do anything else. She was struggling to comprehend how he had found her. She and Adolfo had always been so careful not to leave a trail, but here he was, fighting with her friend, trying to get to her again.
What was she going to do now?
Adolfo’s howl brought Caterina out of her terror—filled thoughts. She saw that he was now under Diavolo, while Diavolo was twisting his arm back trying to break it.
“You will not keep me from her, wolf, ” Diavolo snarled, as he twisted Adolfo’s arm back further. “She is mine and will always be mine.”
Suddenly, Adolfo turned on Diavolo and somehow got the Vampire under him again.
“She is not yours, Vampire.” Adolfo growled into his ear, “I will kill you before I allow you to take her.”
Adolfo started to change into his wolf. His face elongated, and his claws came out. He pushed the Vampire further into the carpeted floor.
Then his eyes met hers. “Caterina, run. Go to where we planned, as we have talked about doing. Go there and they will keep you safe. Run now, Caterina, and never look back.”
At first, her legs couldn’t move, but then she found herself flying down the stairs. She picked up her purse, car keys, and the plane tickets that were sitting on the table next to the front door , then she opened the door to run out.
She looked back at her long-time friend and guardian to see that he had now fully changed and was holding the Vampire down by his teeth around Diavolo’s throat. Adolfo looked up at her, and their eyes met. She saw then something she had never seen in his eyes before. She looked at his side and saw the blood that was matted in his fur and dripping from his side. She knew at that moment that Adolfo knew he would not survive this fight, that he would not be able to go with her and protect her anymore.
Tears fell from her eyes as she looked into his again. “I love you, Adolfo.”
He just growled his response, but she knew it was him telling her he loved her too.
With that she raced out the door and jumped in her car. She was still in her pajamas and had no luggage with her to take, but she didn’t care ; she just needed to get as far away from there as possible. She peeled out of the drive way and sped down the road. As she turned the corner on to the road that would take her to the airport, she heard a howl of pain breaking through the night, and knew her dearest and closest friend was dying —dying to save her from a fate worse than death. She sobbed as she sped along the road. She was alone now, all those she loved were now gone.
She looked in her rear-view mirror to make sure Diavolo wasn’t right behind her. But when she met her own eyes in the mirror, she couldn’t help but cry harder. No, Caterina didn’t see hope when she looked at herself. She never saw hope, and she doubted she ever would. There was no god, there was no hope.
The New Council, they were her only choice. She wondered what they would do when a human showed up asking for sanctuary. She had always had protection from Adolfo, now she was going into the wolves’ den, literally, with no protection. She only hoped they were as human as they seemed .
Chapter 1
Blaine woke from the vision with sweat on his forehead. It had been crazy. It couldn ‘t be true. They had finally seated the entire New Council, and things were progressing. The prophec y was partly complete, now they had to finish it.
Quinn and the Alphas asked for a list to be made of all the magical creatures out there. Cami had been so excited because she was going to finally know if some of the mythical creatures were true. When Griff had joined their Council, she had practically come unglued because he was an actual Griffin —and that was nothing compared to her response to Shea.
But this? He wasn’t s
ure even Argus knew about the existence of these creatures. Blaine had heard the stories and had shrugged them off. Most of the stories had been told to him when he was a child. Of cre atures that walked the night, took children from their beds and fed off of their blood. But, it had only been stories.