9781936653027BorntobeWildArsuaga

by Cynthia Arsuaga

  Her sudden strength unbalanced him. Her breasts massaged along his chest. “I forgive you Stefan. You just gave me the best sex I’ve ever had these past two nights. I’ve broken god only knows how many rules, and I’d do it again to be with you. All I ask is you not lie to me and not keep anything from me. I trust you not to turn me. If you betray my trust, all bets are off. I’ll turn on you so fast you’ll never know what hit you.”

  “Big talk from such a wee one.”

  “I learned quickly from my master.”

  “Hmm. Really?”

  “Yes, I did. So, master, why don’t you and I get to work and find out what this Ecaterina vamp wants with you.” Retrieving her discarded clothes, she readjusted the corset. “Oh no. What’s all this blood? You’re a neat freak, not a messy eater. Besides, this is dry blood.” She glared at Stefan demanding an immediate answer.

  “Ecaterina did it when she attacked you…you lost a lot of blood. I will get you another corset tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want another one, Stefan. What else happened? There’s something you’re leaving out. What is it?”

  He hesitated. This was not the time or place he wanted to tell her about what he did, and he’d just made another promise to her. Fuck!

  “Stefan?”

  “Before I could get to you, Ecaterina ripped you and you lost blood, a lot of it. I had to give you some of mine to save you. You drank my blood Alexandra.” His voice was low and apologetic. “Can you forgive me? I know I opposed your wishes, but I couldn’t lose you. I…I am falling in love with you.”

  Staring at Stefan, no words came from her lips for a long, uneasy minute. He wondered what was she thinking—Stake him or throw her arms around him? Think with her head or follow her heart? He could feel her emotions were bubbling up from her core and quickly overtaking her.

  “Say something, Alexandra.”

  “I’m going to be sick.” She struggled to open the door and ran out of the room. Stefan dressed, gathered her clothes, and followed her to the bedroom. Finding the door closed, he waited outside.

  A few minutes later, she appeared, pale and weak, sobbing. Black mascara streaked down her cheeks in charcoal smudged rivers.

  “I brought your clothes and your new things are in the bag so you can change. I’m going to my other safe house. You and Jordan can stay here if you like, or go. I’ll understand if you do leave.” He turned, but she tapped his shoulder.

  “Stefan, wait.”

  “Yes.” His heart leapt in his throat and turned back to face her.

  “I need time to think about this. This has happened way too fast for me to comprehend. I’m not blaming you. You did what you thought was right at the time. I understand, but I…I’m scared…”

  “Scared of what? Us?” Closing the distance between them, he said, “Whatever you decide, prinţesa mea, know I will always love you. I know this is happening fast. I’ve never fallen for someone as fast as I have you.” He ran his fingers along her cheeks wiping the black smudges with his thumb. “Please don’t cry. I’ll take care of you.”

  “It’s not you I’m afraid of. It’s that evil vampire.”

  “What does Ecaterina have to do with this?” His brow curled.

  “If she is the rogue and carries the virus, and bit me, I could be…” her voice trailed off and the crying grew louder.

  “No, it’s not possible. I would know it. I took your blood and would be infected too.” He took her into his arms, embracing her tightly. He stroked his hand through her hair as her head rested on his chest.

  “I’ve got a gut feeling about her. I know she has something to do with the virus.” Alexandra pushed back and intently looked at him. “The virus could lie dormant in the bloodstream for a while before it can be detected. It has only been a couple of hours. I still could be infected.”

  “You’re worrying for nothing prinţesa. Ecaterina is not the rogue vampire. She wouldn’t risk her existence by infecting herself with a deadly virus. She’s crazy, not stupid. Knowing her, someone else was duped into transmitting the virus.”

  “Someone else. Of course. Someone else.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Just thinking.” Turning away embarrassed, and realizing she wore only the blood-stained corset, “I need to shower and dress, and maybe it’s best Jordy and I go back to our hotel.”

  “I told you to stay here, I’ll go. Besides, Jordan is completely out. You won’t be able to wake him.”

  “I need time to think, Stefan. I’ve known you a couple of days and things have moved too fast. I have to regroup and assess my actions. I didn’t trust you at first, but now…I don’t know. I’m so confused.”

  He swallowed hard. “I understand. The sun will rise soon. I have to go now, but I’ll return this evening. Will you meet me tonight to talk?”

  “I don’t know. I want to continue hunting the rogue, and working with you, I’m not sure what to do.”

  “I don’t think it is Ecaterina, but I would like to help, if you let me.”

  “Open up the Syndicate files. Prove to me I can trust you.”

  He paced. His face grimaced and he ran his hands through his hair before turning and speaking. “I agree on one condition. Only you can look at the files and you can’t copy the files. Not even Jordan. Trust is a two-way street.”

  The corner of her mouth turned up slightly. “Agreed.”

  He nodded and turned to leave. He hesitated as he approached the door with his back toward her. “Will I see you tonight?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He stepped out without turning around, whispering, “I love you prinţesa mea.”

  Chapter 12

  Next Day, South Interstate 95

  “When do you want to stop for the night Alex? I don’t want to drive at night if that Stefan dude might be looking for you,” Jordan said over his cell phone.

  “Why don’t we start looking in about twenty, thirty minutes? That should put us about seven hours on the road tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good. I’m up for a decent place, nothing cheesy. What do you say?”

  “Sure. I’m signing off now. Signal when you want to exit.”

  Thirty minutes later they were checked into separate rooms and freshening up for dinner. A loud knock rattled the room door.

  “I’ll be right there,” Alex called out patting the water from her face with the white terrycloth towel. When they arrived at the hotel, she had worn her sunglasses to hide red, tear-swollen eyes from Jordan. Now, with night upon them, wearing the shades wasn’t possible. To calm the redness, she splashed cold water on her face.

  It didn’t work. Cold water on one’s face for thirty seconds didn’t remove five hours of crying. At that moment, crawling into bed and sleeping eight hours carried more appeal than going out in public. However, a professional bounty hunter does not shirk responsibility. Tough it up, Alex girl! And she did. Grabbing handbag and room keycard, she opened the door.

  “Hey Jordy. So where do you want to go eat?” She lowered her head to avoid eye contact.

  “I checked the hotel restaurant. They have a good selection. We can stay in and eat here.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  They walked down the hallway toward the elevator lobby. As Jordan pressed the button to call the lift, he spoke in a low voice. “By the way, you look like shit.”

  Raising dark emerald eyes rimmed in scarlet, she muttered, “Thanks dick head. I love you too.”

  The elevator doors opened. The restaurant was off the lobby, steps from the elevator.

  The host, an older man seated them at a booth and provided menus. “Your server tonight is Tammy. Enjoy your dinner.” He smiled and left.

  Looking down into the large menu, “So you want to talk about it?” Jordan asked quietly.

  “No,” she fired back curtly.

  “Talking helps.” He put down the menu. “If you didn’t want to leave, why are we here?”

  “I have a job t
o do, a rogue to catch. I couldn’t wait around that sleepy town anymore.”

  “Mm-Hmm. I hear ya. A sleepy town where a certain tall, dark, and dangerous vampire resided of course wouldn’t have anything to do with your decision to high tail it out of there, would it?”

  She glared at him over the menu. “I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

  A young, twenty-something woman appeared at the table. “Hey, I’m Tammy. Can I get you folks something to drink, maybe from the bar?” Her southern drawl put a smile on Jordan’s face. Alex knew he was a sucker for the cute southern girls. He’d loved the sweet belles since he attended the University of Alabama. He met his first real sweetheart there. Alex figured it must have created a soft spot in his memory for them.

  “I’ll have whatever’s on tap. How ‘bout you Alex?” Jordan asked.

  “Sure, me too.”

  “Okay, two beers. You got it. Do you know what you want to eat or do you want me to get your beers first?” the young waitress asked, fluttering her lashes at Jordan.

  He smiled up at her. “Naw, give us a few more minutes.”

  Dinner consisted of steak burgers, French fries, and coleslaw, washed down with three more draft beers. Jordan finally coerced Alex to loosen up.

  “What did the vamp dude do to piss you off sis?” He took a long sip of his draft.

  “Give it a rest Jordy. I’m not telling you anything.”

  “Look, I know the two of you fucked. Just tell me the dude didn’t take any of your blood.”

  Her eyes widened. “Jesus, Jordan, do you have to be so crude?”

  “Okay, the two of you made love. So did he? Tell me you didn’t let him bite you?”

  Looking off across the room, Alex took a sip of beer, ignoring Jordan’s judgmental expression.

  An answer to the question that Jordan the hunter would understand didn’t exist, but maybe Jordan the big brother might. He lived by the rules established years ago by the Bounty Hunter Council. Until this past week spent with Stefan, she did too. Now nothing made sense and all the rules lay shattered at her feet. Grandfather would be ashamed. Damn! So ashamed of me.

  “You’re not answering me. Damn it Alex, he did didn’t he?” He wasn’t quiet about asking because other patrons in the restaurant turned to look at them.

  “Jordy, keep your voice down. Fine, yes he did. Satisfied?”

  He pulled his fingers through his hair and gritted his teeth. “Damn it Alex. Do you know what you’ve done?” He leaned over the table toward her to try and keep their conversation more private. “He can track you now. Do you know that?”

  “Don’t you think I know? More reason for me to leave Virginia.”

  “He can still track you to Florida, Alex. A thousand miles won’t stop him if wants to find you. The only way to stop him is to stake him. No wonder he didn’t stay at the house with us last night. He probably thought I’d find out and go after him. He’s not stupid, I’ll give him that.”

  “Jordy, that’s not why. He did it because…,” her voice trailed off and she looked away.

  He reached across the table and placed his hands over hers. “Oh sis, tell me you didn’t exchange blood. Did you take his blood?”

  Tears welled in her eyes, stinging the already swollen orbs. “Don’t blame him. He had to. The psycho bitch attacked me and…and he said I lost a lot of blood. He had to give me his blood to heal me or…or, he said I was dying.”

  “He said you were attacked, and he stopped the bitch from getting to you. First, you tell me you bumped your head. Then the story changes to an attack by a female vampire that Stefan prevented from hurting you. Now, you’re telling me that she did actually attack you? And you believed him? He probably created the whole thing to make you think it happened when it actually didn’t. An illusion. It’s what vampires do Alex. How many times did Dad and Grandpa teach us those are the tricks vamps try and use to seduce humans into believing their shit to get our blood? Huh? This is just fucking great.” He threw his napkin on the table.

  “Jordy, I was attacked. Ecaterina does exist and did come after me. I remember her charging toward me at the club. I just don’t remember anything after until I woke up seeing you standing over me. I’m telling you it wasn’t an illusion of Stefan’s creation.”

  Throwing his arms up in the air, “Great, now you have two vamps who can track you. A lovesick dude who probably wants you for his sex slave and a psycho bitch who wants to kill you. Congratulations Alex, you have broken Numbers One and Two of the Rules of Vamp Bounty Hunters—Do Not Exchange Vampire and Human Blood.”

  “I know, I know. And I intend to rectify the situation. Trust me. Don’t you think I’ve beat myself up about this already? I fucked up, but I’ll make it right by bagging this psycho bitch vamp and I’ll deal with Stefan later.”

  “You think she’s the rogue causing this virus scare, don’t you? If that’s true and she bit you, you could be infected. Oh fuck, Alex. This can’t be happening. He has to be lying about you being attacked to throw you off his trail.”

  “No. I showed you this morning what I found in Stefan’s files.” Wiping the tears from her face with the dinner napkin, she continued. “Ecaterina Tomescu, aka Cat Tomas, is the rogue, and she isn’t carrying the virus. Her boy toy Gerry is. Somehow she gave him the virus and uses him and the man that preceded him, before he died, to transmit the virus. My guess is vamps became infected when they fed on him, and from there spread the disease. Stefan told me there was no way he believed she could be the rogue, except she would have someone else do the work. I got to thinking, who could be foolish enough to do it? Or better yet, who did she have power over to do her dirty work?”

  “Sounds logical, but the question is, why and for what purpose? Revenge, money, the pure hell of it? Why?”

  “The missing piece of the puzzle I haven’t figured out yet. When I researched the background files, I found articles and pictures of her keeping company with a wealthy man. His name is Emil Dragomir, a billionaire pharmaceutical giant from some European country I can’t remember right now. It sort of fits together, viruses, pharmaceutical company, or at least some of it does. There are still some pieces of the puzzle not fitting together, but I’ll figure them out. I need to get to a computer and do more research. And you,” Alex looked intently at Jordan, “were you able to get a hold of your contacts in Miami, especially at the FBI? We need to find out what they know about Cat Tomas or Ecaterina Tomescu, whatever the psycho bitch calls herself these days, and this Emil Dragomir. He could be running the entire operation for all we know.”

  “I’ve already put a call in to a couple of my hunter buddies in Miami. I called Dad to see if he could make a few calls to his contacts at the local Bureau in Orlando. I don’t think we’ll hear anything back until tomorrow.”

  “If we leave around six-thirty or seven in the morning, we should get home about two or three in the afternoon. We can rest up and hit the road for Miami Beach the next day and by then we should have a better plan in place and more information. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re not working this bounty on your own anymore. Are you splitting the reward if we nail this bitch vamp?”

  “I guess I am, and as soon as I figured the Feds were somehow involved, I knew it would be more complicated and I’d need help. And who better to help than my big bro? Do you think Dad and Paul will want to tag along on this one too?”

  “Probably, but let’s keep it between us for right now.”

  “You’re not going to tell Mom and Dad about what I’ve done with…you know, Stefan?”

  “No, sis, I’m not. You’re a big girl and it’s your business to tell them. But, if Stefan comes after you, you’ve got to promise me you’ll let me know. You can’t fight him alone and you may need all of us to help. You won’t be able to hide the truth.”

  “Thanks. I guess we better get some rest. Dawn comes early.”

  They rose from the table to leave. Alex felt lightheaded and gra
bbed the edge of the table for balance.

  “You all right sis?”

  “Yeah, too much to drink and not enough sleep I think.” She jerked back and shivered. An intense throbbing burst into her head and she grabbed her temples. “Ah, stop.”

  “Alex, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

  “I said get out of my head Stefan.” She gritted her teeth, barely able to get the words out.

  Jordan clutched her hands across the table, concerned with what she was saying. “Alex, close your eyes. Don’t open them for anything. Don’t give him any reference to track you. I’ll guide you back to your room. Don’t talk and try and clear your mind. Think of anything except where we are. How about singing nursery rhymes or your favorite songs or maybe you can recite the vamp hunter rules? He’ll freak hearing those over and over.” His arm gripped around her waist guiding her slowly through the restaurant and out into the lobby to the elevator.

  “Okay. Get me out of here quick. I need to concentrate.”

  Alex felt another shock ripple through her head. Clutching Jordan’s arm in a death grip, she cried out tightly shutting her eyes.

  “Okay, that’s it. Where the hell are the stairs? We don’t have time for this bullshit elevator.” He swept her up in his arms and buried her face in his chest. “Alex, hold on.”

  The elevator doors dinged open.

  “Great timing. See you gotta talk tough to inanimate objects, or else they get the better of you.”

  “You trying to cheer me up?”

  “Yeah. Is it working?”

  “No.”

  The doors closed and reopened on the second floor. He ran halfway down the hallway to her room and set her down. “Where’s your room keycard?”

  “In my pocket.” Keeping her eyes closed, she pulled it out and handed it to him. “The pain is easing up Jordy. I think he’s gone.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. Come on, let’s get inside.” He opened the door and flipped the switch on the wall for the dresser lamp. “Keep your eyes closed and don’t move yet.”