Entangled

by Olivia Stocum

“Bad?”

  Her boots and jeans were next. She waited for his answer. Eyes the color of wheat flicked over her body. “Good, but I’m not used to it yet.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  He touched her neck, Kendra’s hands grasping at his without thought, holding him there. “That, right there. It isn’t often one of my kind comes across a mortal who invites it. This has only happened to me once before, although it was not as strong.”

  “Who was she?” She always found his stories sad, maybe because she couldn’t stand the thought of him in pain.

  “Teresa. It was over a hundred years ago.”

  Around the time he joined the monastery. Interesting.

  “When I told her what I was, she didn’t care.” He was looking over her shoulder, fingers in her hair. “I did business with her father. She assisted him and I saw her often. We were in her mother’s garden one night when I told her what I was. I killed a man servant for my food so that I wouldn’t hurt her. She gave me her blood, and then her body. I took her away and we went to Ireland where we lived for a year.”

  She heard the hard edge to his voice, sensed his pain. “What happened?”

  “Her brothers tracked us down. They wanted me, but Tessa got in the way.”

  She shook her head. “What, like literally?”

  “Mortals are breakable. Her brother shot her by accident.” He paused. “I killed all three of them that night. Her parents lost all of their children because of me.”

  “It’s not your fault. They’re the ones who went after you.”

  “Yes, but not without cause. I should have left her to her mortal life in the first place.”

  “I’m sure you were prepared to give her a very good life.”

  “What I had to give.”

  “Which is a lot, actually.”

  Kendra wondered if it was easier for him that she was a widow and already mixed up with vampires and werewolves… probably destined to get herself killed without his protection anyway.

  Yeah, she knew it was. But that was okay.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take you there,” she said.

  He drew in a breath as if resettling himself into the present. “You’re different.”

  “How is that?”

  “You don’t just accept it.” He stopped, his face hardening.

  “Alessandro?”

  “Nothing, it’s nothing.” He lifted her up. “I think I need a little more proof that you’re here, and that you’re real.”

  “How much proof?” she breathed, aware of his meaning pressing urgently now against her thigh.

  “Just a little. Any more than that and the hotel staff will call the authorities. Even the bridal suite has its limits.” From death to sarcasm at the speed of light.

  “Am I really that loud?” she asked.

  He grinned, climbing into bed with her clinging to him. “Yes, you are.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fifteen Years Ago

  Upstate New York

  Lothar struck at the young vampire, catching his sweater as he streaked by in a blur. Lothar dropped the torn sleeve from his mouth, shook himself and growled. This monster was too fast to be a Slave.

  The vampire appeared thirty feet from him, watching, more curious than threatened. Lothar peeled back his lips and showed long fangs gleaming with venom. The vampire tilted his head to one side, smiled, and then disappeared in a whoosh of air past him. Lothar sensed a presence to his right, and struck again, blindly since he couldn’t see the vampire while in motion.

  Lothar felt his teeth gain purchase; the vampire coming back into phase. He held on despite the strain pulling against his jaw. His venom was flooding the vampire’s body. Lothar dragged him, struggling, behind a tree and shook him until he stopped moving. Losing interest in him, he tossed him aside.

  Lothar picked up another scent. Spinning on his haunches, he faced a second vampire, a shadow moving from behind a tree. Lothar growled, sinking low and ready to strike. The vampire, features still obscured by shadow, stopped. His chin lifted as he smelled the dead body, recognizing one of his own.

  Hissing, he launched himself at Lothar, knocking him down and then retreating. Lothar rolled back to his feet, growling, barking for it to come out. He hated vampires like this one. They never fought visibly, keeping instead to the shadows, striking and retreating.

  Darling was like that, come to think of it. It was her way too.

  As if knowing already she was coming, he picked up her scent. No. She shouldn’t be here. He’d just begun her training. She was fast, tough as wolves twice her size, but her inexperience was her weakness.

  There was a crunch in the leaves on the forest floor, a rush as the vampire charged—not at Lothar. Darling. Lothar chased by scent, saw her running full out, circling the vampire now, narrowing in on her target.

  The vampire froze as if wondering what to do with this odd little creature brave enough to take him on so fearlessly. Darling must have sensed Lothar. She abruptly changed direction, not as fast as the vampire, but enough. Lothar took the opening she had left behind for him when the vampire turned to face her and knocked him away hard, sending the creature back thirty feet. Darling was growling, crouched down to strike. She leaped at the vampire and he put out his hand, palm flat, sending her rolling backwards with a yelp.

  Lothar lifted his head and howled, warning the local pack that they needed backup. He lurched between Darling and the vampire. Lothar, bigger, heavier than his female counterpart faced off the vampire, speaking without words. Pick on someone your own size, bastard.

  Darling came back to her feet, shook herself, and then circled, snarling and snapping. The other wolves in the forest howled back in reply. They were on their way.

  The vampire spun, dodged past Darling, and then ran. She did too, but Lothar knew she was about to take on too much. She’d only hunted animals and a few Slaves, wasn’t ready for this. He barked for her to return, but she was too intent on her goal, too untrained as of yet to follow his lead in the heat of the hunt.

  Racing ahead, he had to sprint full-out to catch up with her. He knocked her down, holding her there with one paw. Keeping her pinned didn’t take as much effort as catching her had. Darling struggled for a time then gave in, breathing hard. She whined and he let her up.

  Coming to her paws slowly, she ducked her head as a sign that she understood she should have followed the pack order. Together, they made their way back to town.

  *

  Darling came stumbling out from behind the pine tree where she’d dressed after shifting. Lothar caught her as she collapsed. She was exhausted. The new students always were at first.

  “Give magic time to heal you,” he said. His accent forced him to pronounce every word carefully just to be understood. He sounded like Bela Lugosi, or so Darling had told him once, with a little smile that had made him want to devour her whole.

  Too bad he hadn’t.

  She nodded, leaning against his chest as he rubbed her back like a man who was barely willing to accept that it would be bad form to do more than comfort her as a friend. He had tried from the start to ignore what she was doing to him; her confusion, wanting always to know that she wasn’t alone, her soft body seeking comfort.

  She was seventeen. Lothar could still pass as a high school senior. It was his fourth time through. Each time in a different country. He was a Mentor. It was his job to seek out adolescent werewolves who had begun shifting and bring them safely into the fold.

  She’d found out a year ago that she was not human, keeping it hidden from everyone including her adoptive parents, until she’d begun having problems at school. After she was suspended, the Council, who had already been watching her, sent him to investigate.

  Lothar really should’ve taken her to Lithuania right away, but she hadn’t been ready to leave the United States.

  Oh, and she pretty much had him wrapped around her finger.

  Her arms came around h
is waist. He sucked in a breath, hoping she wasn’t aware of the affect she was having on him. He thought about releasing her, but the torture felt so good he remained in her arms instead.

  “What were you doing out there?” he asked, glad his voice sounded almost normal.

  “I heard you and I came.”

  “Heard me? I did not call for you.”

  “I thought you did. Who was that back there?”

  “Theron De’Sario.”

  “The others we’ve killed, they weren’t like him.”

  “Ne. He is much older. Older vampire is more powerful.”

  “And the one you killed?”

  “His son.”

  “That’s why he was so mad.”

  “I will let pack know who he is, but is time we should leave country.”

  Her arms loosened, letting go of him. She looked up. “I can’t.”

  “You knew was coming.”

  She turned away.

  “Is never easy, leaving everyone,” he said.

  “It’s not that.” She turned her head, showing her profile in the moonlight. A single brown curl framed her face. “They don’t want me anyway. But I was hoping, you know, that we might part on better terms.”

  Her adoptive parents.

  She took a breath and turned back to him, her eyes wide and a little too trusting. He knew he was mere steps away from falling headfirst into a cardinal sin.

  Influencing a fertile female.

  He was a Shifter, completely sterile. Sex for pleasure was permitted, nothing more.

  But she burned through him, like her venom had when she’d lost control and had bitten him. She’d have him if he asked. But could he let her go once he had?

  He was heir to the High Seat, the future alpha of all the packs. He couldn’t do this with her, bind her to himself. And end her line if he did, because he could never give her children. She needed a Carrier for that.

  Lothar reached out, safely touching her hair. He flipped that single curl off her face. “You are not ready to fight Master, and now he knows you are here.”

  “So much for finishing high school,” she said.

  “I have done several times. Is overrated.”

  She laughed, wiping her eyes. “All right. I’ll go.” She stopped. “You’re going with me, right?”

  “Of course, Darling.”

  “And after? Will they send you away?”

  He’d been thinking about that. He was getting too old to pass as a high school student. It was time to take another position. She was a prime candidate for a Huntress. Hunters always worked in pairs. He would have to prove that he could work as a team with her, but that wouldn’t be a problem.

  “You want hunting partner?” he asked.

  Her smile lit her face—lit him. She wiped her eyes again, hesitated, then walked into his arms, wrapping hers tightly around him. “Yes, of course I do. That would be perfect.”

  *

  Present Day

  Lithuania

  Lothar pulled up the Database. He had a dozen beta wolves collecting news from around the world; mysterious disappearances, murders. Even claims of alien abductions. The monster outbreaks plaguing them worldwide, forcing him to send his every available pack to the four corners, had suddenly stopped.

  Theron and his son, Waylon, had what they wanted. Alessandro and Kendra on the run. Hunting Kendra had begun as a ploy to make Darling lose her focus, hopefully taking Lothar down with her, but now it was personal. The vampires must have sensed what was happening between Kendra and Alessandro. Alessandro was keeping her human, and so once again she was the weakest link. She was the one person who could put Darling, Lothar, and Alessandro all at risk. If Theron could take out his father and Lothar both, then all the better, right?

  It came down to revenge.

  Lothar had killed Theron’s first son. Theron had smelled Darling that day and so she’d been marked as Lothar’s partner. Had the vampires become aware of the pregnancy too? What better time to strike then when he would have to fight without his partner.

  Working with Alessandro was tricky. Most wolves didn’t have enough self-control not to kill a vampire on scent alone. It was instinctual for them to kill other monsters. Alessandro could protect himself, but Lothar didn’t exactly want to lose any wolves either.

  He brought up the satellite link and let the pack around Alessandro and Kendra’s vicinity know they would be on the move, to keep a discreet distance but to be available. Nick and Vesper were only a hunting party of two. He couldn’t risk his sister and her mate by not calling in backup.

  Despite everyone’s opinion of him, none of this was a strategic maneuver. After everything he and Darling had been through, even for the right to share quarters, he was loath to interfere with Kendra and Alessandro now.

  Darling was sitting at the table, staring blindly at her tea, probably cold by now.

  Nick, did you have to tell her what I did?

  Lothar went to her, pulling up a chair. She didn’t respond.

  “Aš tave myliu,” he said. I love you.

  “Ne.”

  “Ne?”

  “You can’t solve everything with those words.”

  “I didn’t know about Kendra and Alessandro.”

  “You suspected though. And you didn’t tell me.”

  No, he hadn’t. “I cannot tell you everything.”

  Her gaze pierced him and he winced.

  “This is an alpha thing isn’t it?”

  “Danielle...”

  Her brown eyes darkened to black. He only called her by her real name when they were arguing.

  “Is alpha thing.” He rested his elbows on the tabletop, face in his hands. “I do not do to hurt you. Is not your burden. Is mine.”

  She turned her chair toward him, leaning closer. He lifted his head to look at her. She was as beautiful as when he’d first seen her, more so, really. There were no words to describe what it was like, to look at her and know she was finally his, to watch her carry the children he thought he could never have.

  “If you rely only on yourself, what keeps you from becoming an island?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I have to.”

  “You have to, or you want to?”

  “I have to. Is not your burden, is mine.”

  “You said that.” She studied him for a moment, then sighed. “You’ve always done this, pushed me and Vesper away, but you don’t have to. We’re not going anywhere. Maybe I get mad at you, say stupid things,” her voice cracked and it hurt him inside, “but I’m never leaving. It’s been us from the start, and it will always be that way.”

  He pulled her against him, buried his face in her hair until he’d gotten himself under control. “That is why I do,” he managed finally, his voice rough. “Is why I did not stop them.”

  She lifted her head. “What?”

  “Kendra has been texting.”

  “And?”

  “She is acting on own will.”

  “You think she is.”

  “Father Davide spoke with both and confirmed.”

  “I can’t understand how she could do this. A vampire killed her husband.”

  “A mindless Slave killed her husband.”

  “Not an intelligent, manipulative seducer like Alessandro.”

  “He loves her, Darling.”

  She straightened, no longer touching him. “Then he’s gotten control of her mind, made her into what he desires.”

  “Did he, or was she already what he needed? He what she needed.”

  She sat back, perplexed.

  “You want honesty then I will give you honesty. He has asked me to kill him should anything happen to her.”

  Her eyes flicked to his, distrustful but watching, waiting for a sign that she should believe him.

  “Whether by my hand or another’s, he wants it to end.”

  “I still don’t understand any of this.”

  Lothar had once thought as she did, knew she didn
’t want to believe a vampire could have enough heart left to truly and deeply care for another person.

  “Is this personal?” she said. “Could this actually be about us?”

  He shrugged.

  “Lothar?”

  “Maybe, yes,” he said with a growl. “I will not separate them.”

  “Because the Council stood between us. Yeah, I get it.”

  And he knew she did. “Everyone wants answer from me, but I do not always have. I do not want anything to happen to her, but I will not come between them either.”

  It took her a moment. “We judge you when you hide things from us, and then judge you again when you don’t have the perfect answer.”

  “Being alpha does not make me perfect.”

  She smiled. “But you’re so good at it, pretending to be Mr. Perfect.”

  “Pretending, yes.” He looked at her levelly. “No one can know that.”

  She sighed. “I know. It doesn’t make me love you any less. I’m a part of you. I need the real man.”

  Yes, and no. He knew she meant it but he was still responsible for her, their unborn, and their race as a whole. He had to make what he believed was the right choice for all of them, whether she liked his decisions or not. It was why he cherished the empathic connection she had with him, why they’d become decadent with their love making. That was the only time he didn’t feel alone.

  She stood, as if the very thought had drawn her to him. He slid her smaller body onto his lap.

  “What will happen to her?” she asked.

  “I do not know. But I think bigger question is, what will happen to them?”

  He felt her reaching out to him with her mind. They couldn’t read each other’s thoughts, just moods, but they could influence each other biochemically.

  Lothar twined his arm around her thickening waist. Damnit, but he wanted her again. How long had they lasted this time? Twelve hours? She took his head in her hands, tipped his face malleably to hers, and kissed him.

  She groaned when he lifted her into his arms. As gluttonous as it was, yes, he was going to have her again. They still had fifteen years to make up for.

  “It’s like we’ll be this way forever.” She shook her head. “We’re on some cosmic teeter-totter that neither of us wants to get off of. We’ll never get this right.”