Bite the Bullet (Bitten Book 5)

by C. C. Wood

  “But I did choose, Asher. I chose to be with you. I could have told Conner no when he asked me if I wanted to help. I could have stayed in the safe house. I didn’t have to agree to let you bite me or to let you turn me. Those were choices I made.”

  His hands crept around my waist, pulling me into his body. “You have to be sure, Shannon. I don’t want you to regret this or resent me as time goes by.”

  With complete sincerity, I answered, “I’m sure.”

  I was sure. With all the uncertainty I’d been feeling about everything else lately, it felt incredible to finally be confident in a decision I made.

  This time, when he smiled it reached his eyes.

  “No more running or pushing me away,” I admonished. “From here on out, we’re partners.”

  “Agreed,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss me.

  “Did we just make another promise?” I asked when his head lifted.

  He nodded.

  “Good. Don’t break it.”

  * * *

  Unfortunately, our truce didn’t last long. As I shared my visions with Asher, telling him what needed to be done, he grew more and more agitated.

  “No, Shannon. It’s too dangerous,” he insisted.

  “I know it’s risky, but it will work. We can defeat the Faction and move on with our lives.”

  “No, I won’t let you do it.”

  “Let me? I’m not some helpless damsel in distress, Asher. I’m not human any longer, and I’m probably better trained than half the vampires that guard this place. I’m also no longer a sensitive. I’m fully clairvoyant.”

  “So that makes you invincible?” he asked scathingly.

  “No, it’s who I am, Asher. I may be your mate, but that doesn’t mean that I stopped being Shannon Frye. We haven’t had time to learn everything about each other yet, but from what you’ve seen of me so far, do I strike you as the type of woman who will sit back when I know I can make a difference?”

  I could tell my words were sinking in because the thunderous expression left Asher’s face. The tension in his shoulders dissipated a bit.

  He lifted a hand and curved it around my neck. “I understand what you’re saying, but I want you to put yourself in my shoes. Most vampires take companions or spouses who will benefit them financially or socially. Money and power are what they want. It’s part of our culture. It’s very rare for a vampire to find a mate, one who completes them. Love isn’t used much in our vocabulary. What we have, and what Conner, Finn, and Lex have with their mates, it’s rare. There’s more than magic at work here, it’s fate. You’re the only female I will love in my lifetime, and my life will likely span another five or six centuries. Maybe more. You’re priceless to me. Hearing you talk about placing yourself in danger not only angers me, it frightens me. I’ve waited five hundred years for you, Shannon. I don’t want to live the next five hundred without you.”

  He said so many amazing and beautiful things that I couldn’t focus on which one to respond to first, so I rose on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.

  “What if I can promise that I won’t be hurt or killed?”

  He heaved a sigh. “Let’s go talk to Conner. He can decide if we should pursue it and gather the Council.”

  Surprised that he gave in so easily, I dropped back down on my flat feet and started to back away. Asher’s hand shot out and wrapped around my arm.

  “I’m only agreeing to this because I know you’ll harangue me until I change my mind or you’ll convince Conner and the Council to do this anyway.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Agreeing to?”

  “Fine, I’m not fighting you about it for those reasons. Better?”

  I grinned at him. For a vampire his age, he wasn’t as chauvinistic as I would have expected.

  “But that doesn’t mean I won’t be shadowing your every move.”

  Okay, maybe he was only slightly less chauvinistic. Still, it was the first time a man hadn’t treated me like one of the boys in a long time. Every man I’d known in the last few years knew how capable and skilled I was. They expected me to pull my weight and do my job. If they did seem overly protective of me because I was a woman, I’d disabused them of that notion quickly because it was important to me that my colleagues saw me as their equal. They had to trust that I would watch their back, no matter what.

  While I still wanted Asher to see me as equal, ours was a different relationship dynamic. Even though I didn’t want him to coddle me, I couldn’t help appreciating his desire to take care of me. I’d been on my own for so long, never having someone to lean on. Now, it appeared I had Asher.

  “If you watch my back, then I guess I’ll have to watch yours.”

  He took my hand. “Let’s go find Conner and we’ll discuss your plan further.”

  When we found Conner downstairs, his reaction was so much like Asher’s I wondered if he’d been listening to every word we’d said upstairs.

  “Absolutely not.” Conner glowered at me, his eyes burning like two blue flames. “I won’t allow you to endanger Donna in such a way.”

  Donna leaned forward in her chair. “Allow? Allow?”

  I could see that Conner recognized his mistake in word choice immediately, but, bless his heart, he tried.

  “Donna, I can’t agree to this. It’s too risky.”

  She got to her feet, arms crossed over her chest. “Agree to it? Risky? But you let Shannon go off with Asher as bait. How was that not risky? My God, Conner, she was almost killed!” She paused. “And since when do you get to agree or disagree to something that is my choice?”

  “I can’t plan something like this based on one of Shannon’s feelings,” he argued, still facing her.

  I opened my mouth to correct him, but Donna shot me a look. Okay, apparently this argument wasn’t to include me.

  “Didn’t you listen to anything she said?” she asked him. “She’s more than a sensitive now. She’s clairvoyant. She has visions. She knows exactly what will happen.”

  I had to interject there. “Not exactly, Donna. I just know that we win and how we go about it. I’ve seen the beginning of the fight and the aftermath, but not what happens in between.”

  She scowled at me because she knew that Conner would jump on my words with both feet.

  Which he did.

  “See? Shannon can’t guarantee that you won’t get hurt in the fighting.”

  Ignoring him, Donna focused on me. “Answer me this, am I injured in any way at the end? Bedridden? Half-dead? Comatose?”

  I shook my head.

  She tossed Conner a triumphant look. “Clearly, I make it through without a scratch.”

  Considering the rate vampires healed, that was an erroneous statement, but I wasn’t about to contradict her. Especially not when her arguments were an attempt to win Connor over.

  Conner looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Headache?” she asked lightly.

  He growled at her, but didn’t answer. She sighed and walked over to him, placing a hand on his cheek. Conner lifted his eyes to her and the worry in them tugged at my heartstrings. It was obvious he was anxious about her being involved, just as much as Asher was about me.

  Surprising me yet again, Asher spoke up. “Conner, I have faith in Shannon’s visions, and I know she would never do anything to put her friends in mortal danger unless she was sure that no lasting harm would come to them.”

  Conner nodded, but he still didn’t look happy. He glanced at Donna once again, who was standing next to him, looking at him expectantly.

  “We can discuss this more. I’ll have to call the rest of the Council.” He paused. “And Calder Atwood.” A smile spread across his face. “This will be an interesting meeting.”

  Considering half the Council and Calder were mated to my friends, I had a feeling that the meeting was going to be a lot like my earlier conversation with Asher, only worse.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Though my feeling wasn’t nece
ssarily a premonition, it was still dead on.

  As soon as I started outlining the general plan, the room erupted in loud refusals. I remained standing beside Conner’s desk, waiting for the commotion to die down.

  As the room quieted, I looked around. Lex and Calder looked angry. Finn and Kerry appeared to be considering what I’d suggested. Asher and Conner were obviously resigned. The only vampires in the room smiling were Duncan and Donna. They both looked amused by the whole show.

  I knew how dangerous it was for three of the Five to be together, but I also knew that Cornelius wouldn’t strike unless he was confident of his victory.

  It was Kerry who spoke up first after the initial uproar faded. “I think Shannon has a valid point and a solid foundation for a plan.”

  Calder glared at her. “She might, but Ricki is pregnant.”

  “With a girl,” I commented.

  All of their heads swung toward me.

  “What?” Calder asked. “How did you know that? She’s not far enough along yet…”

  “I saw it.”

  He stared at me in disbelief. “In your dreams?”

  “They weren’t dreams, Calder. They were visions. I saw parts of our future. You’re having a daughter. I can promise you that both she and Ricki will come out of this completely unscathed.”

  Calder visibly hesitated, then exhaled. “No,” he stated, shaking his head. “You can’t ask Ricki to do this. I can’t allow it.”

  “Allow?” Donna asked.

  I closed my eyes and bit back a laugh. It appeared we were going to have this conversation again.

  “And exactly what do you think she would say if you told her you wouldn’t allow her to be involved?”

  Calder glared at her. “I realize Ricki is an independent woman, but she’s pregnant with our child. I think I have a say in what she does.”

  Scoffing, Donna looked at Kerry and me. “See, this is the problem with falling in love with alpha males. They think they can just make decisions for you and you’ll be oh-so-grateful that they took the trouble out of your delicate little hands.”

  Kerry snorted, then coughed, and I knew she was hiding a laugh. I managed to school my face into an expressionless mask, even though I agreed with Donna completely. All of our mates were completely alpha. They were accustomed to taking charge, being in control.

  Conner moved to Donna’s side and put his arm around her, pulling her close. I wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to calm her down or to remind Calder that he couldn’t throttle her.

  Finn spoke up. “Maybe you should ask her what she wants to do, Calder. Ricki is an intelligent, reasonable woman. She’ll make the right decision.”

  Calder frowned at Finn. “You know she’ll want to do it.”

  Finn lifted a brow at him. “Will she? Well, I’d say it was her choice, wouldn’t you?”

  A low growl drifted across the room. Finn and Calder stared at each other and I could feel the tensions in the room building.

  The spell was broken by Lex. “I’ll talk to Ivie, and make no mistake I’m going to try to talk her out of it, but she’ll make her own decision.” He looked at me. “You know she’ll want to help, so please take care of her.”

  I nodded. “Nothing will happen to her. I swear it.”

  “I’m more than willing to do it,” Kerry stated.

  I’d never doubted her for a minute. Of all of us, Kerry was the most powerful, which might have had a lot to do with why Finn didn’t seem as concerned as the other males.

  “You know I’m in,” Donna chimed in.

  Calder growled low in his throat again. “I’ll discuss it with Ricki, but I’m going to do everything I can to prevent her from being involved in this.”

  “She already is involved, Calder.”

  I glanced over at Asher when he spoke because he’d voiced exactly what I was thinking.

  The werewolf merely shook his head, refusing to answer aloud. After nodding to the rest of us, he left the study. I heard him open and shut the front door behind him.

  “Ricki will bring him around,” Kerry murmured.

  I hoped she was right.

  “I need a drink,” Donna groaned, walking over to the chair that Calder vacated and dropping into it. “It’s been a fucking stressful week.”

  “Me, too,” I commented, leaning a hip against Conner’s desk.

  “I’ll go open a bottle of wine,” Duncan offered.

  As he left the room, Donna called, “Make it two!” She paused. “Maybe three.”

  I heard Duncan’s chuckle as he crossed the foyer into the kitchen. Asher moved to follow him.

  “I think I’ll give him a hand with those three bottles.”

  I watched him leave, eyes narrowed. Asher was a nice guy and often helpful, but he knew perfectly well that Duncan could handle a few bottles of wine.

  I caught Conner looking at me out of the corner of my eye and turned my head toward him. “What?”

  He smirked. “Asher just wants to make sure that Duncan understands the lay of the land.”

  Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”

  It was Lex who clarified. “He knows how Duncan feels about you. Asher wants to make sure that it’s clear to Duncan who your mate is.”

  “How Duncan feels about me? Exactly how does he feel about me?” I asked.

  “You didn’t know?” Donna asked. “Damn, that vampire is better at hiding his feelings than I thought.

  I looked at her in surprise. “Seriously?”

  She nodded. “Oh yeah.”

  Just when I was thinking Asher didn’t let his testosterone do his thinking for him, he had to do something like this. Surely he knew I didn’t reciprocate Duncan’s feelings.

  “I believe it’s called staking a claim,” Finn stated, his voice filled with amusement.

  “Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” Donna muttered. “Why don’t you just poke her with a stick? It’d be less infuriating.”

  I lifted my hands. “You know what, it’s ridiculous. I’m not even going to acknowledge it. I’m just going to ignore it because getting all pissed off and busting into that kitchen will make me look like the irrational one.”

  I lowered my hands, crossing my arms over my chest. Everyone in the room looked at me in silence.

  “Oh, fuck it,” I mumbled, straightening up from the desk and stomping out of the room.

  Once I left the study, I made an effort to move silently across the foyer. I could hear them speaking as I got closer.

  “I know she isn’t for me,” Duncan said. “I think she’s beautiful and I care for her deeply, but I’ve always known it wasn’t meant to be.”

  “I have to say I’m glad to hear it,” Asher replied. “You’ve been a good friend for years.”

  Duncan was silent for a moment. “You do understand, however, that if you hurt her, or don’t treat her right, we’ll have a problem.”

  I rolled my eyes at his words, even though they warmed my heart. He was a good guy for a big, dumb Neanderthal vampire. I was too far away from them to sense their emotions clearly, but neither of them seemed truly angry, so I didn’t feel the need to intervene. I also felt no guilt about eavesdropping because this was a ridiculous conversation.

  “Are you threatening me?” Asher asked in a low, tense voice.

  “Absolutely.”

  The silence stretched out between them for a long moment and I lifted a hand to thrust the door open. Apparently, even centuries old vampires didn’t evolve past pissing contests.

  Before I could enter, Asher responded.

  “I’m glad she has someone who cares so deeply for her.”

  Duncan didn’t speak, but it was clear that the conversation was over because I heard a cork pop on a bottle of wine.

  On silent feet, I backed away from the door and snuck back into the study.

  “Did you set them straight?” Donna asked with a sly grin.

  I scowled at her because I knew she’d been watching me listen at the kitc
hen door. “No. They were perfectly civilized. There was no chest thumping or dick measuring, so my presence wasn’t needed.”

  Kerry and Donna laughed. Lex, Finn, and Conner just shook their heads and grinned at me.

  Duncan and Asher returned to the study, carrying three open bottles of red wine and glasses.

  “Maybe you should forget the glass and just give Donna the bottle,” Conner quipped.

  “I’m sure that’s supposed to be an insult,” she replied, “But I don’t care. It sounds like a good idea to me!”

  The fine tension that had been a part of me for months eased as Asher and Duncan poured the wine and we all drank. This afternoon was the first bit of normalcy I’d had since I moved out of my condo and into the safe house.

  I intended to enjoy it as long as I could, because, even if I knew we would emerge triumphant, what was coming wouldn’t be easy.

  Chapter Seventeen

  As we got ready for bed, Asher gave me a sideways look.

  “I know you were listening earlier.”

  Distracted, I didn’t comprehend what he was talking about. “Huh?”

  “While Duncan and I were talking in the kitchen, I knew you were listening.”

  That got my attention. “You did?”

  He nodded, a smile quirking the corners of his mouth. “Why were you eavesdropping?”

  I shrugged. “Because it seems incredibly ridiculous for you two to be talking about me as though you make decisions for me. Who I’m with is my choice, not yours.”

  I tried not to ogle him as he stripped off his shirt because I wanted to stay focused on our conversation. It was proving difficult because I hadn’t seen Asher naked until a couple of days ago. Now, I found myself fascinated by the play of muscles beneath his skin.

  “But it isn’t.”

  His words snapped me right out of my trance. “Excuse me?”

  He was grinning at me as though he knew the effect he had on me. “It’s not mine either,” he continued.

  Glowering at him, I asked irritably, “Then whose is it?”

  He moved across the room to stand in front of me, rubbing my upper arms with his hands. “Fate. Destiny. God, or in Kerry’s case, the Goddess, who knows. When I was born, I was made to be yours. Just as you were made to be mine when you came into this world.”