Dark Protector

by Katie Reus

  As a light snow started to fall, she continued to scan the woods while she and Kat jogged deeper into the forest.

  “Jayce and Aldric aren’t far behind us,” Kat murmured.

  Natalia nodded. It made her feel safer, knowing they had backup. Deeper and deeper into the woods they sprinted, following that lemony scent until…it disappeared.

  They weren’t in a clearing, exactly, but there was a slight opening among some trees, where the moonlight bathed the area. A few areas of snow had been disturbed. It was impossible to tell if the disturbance was from the weather, animals, or something else.

  Looking up, Natalia cast her gaze over the trees, looking to see if the vampire, or vampires, were hiding in them.

  That was something Aldric had taught her on one of their investigations. Something she’d never thought about before. He said that people always forgot to look up for threats. It was true. She was an apex predator and rarely thought about looking up for danger. It wasn’t instinct to expect an attack from above.

  Now, however, she slowly searched anywhere someone might hide. She moved to the shadows of the trees, using them as cover as she looked for any threat—

  The ground gave way beneath her.

  The air rushed from her lungs as she fell, but her inborn instinct refused to let her cry out even as panic punched through her. Her feet slammed into concrete at least ten feet below ground.

  The impact jarred her. It took seconds to take in the scene before her: an underground dungeon with three cages. Each one held a prisoner. Two males who looked unconscious, and the female vampire, Crystal. Her cage door wasn’t closed though. The female’s eyes widened when she saw Natalia.

  Natalia’s claws extended as she prepared to jump back through the opening she’d fallen through. Crouching, she started to spring up when pain exploded in the back of her skull.

  Stunned, but not knocked out, she swiveled to face her attacker, slashing out with her claws. She connected with clothing and flesh as a fist landed against her ribs.

  She couldn’t hear Kat, briefly wondered where her packmate was before raw survival instinct took over. Nothing else mattered except stopping this threat.

  Her animal took over, her body shifting to wolf form without thought. The shift was almost instantaneous, much quicker than normal. Her bones shifted and realigned, her clothes shredding as fur replaced skin in seconds. It was so damn fast, there was no pain.

  There was no room for emotions other than anger. She didn’t care why she was being attacked, just that she was going to end this shit right now.

  On all fours, she snarled at a bleeding, wild-eyed Ivonne. Looked as if Ivonne was guilty after all. Crouching low, she eyed the female, scanning for weapons and any sign of weakness as she prepared to attack.

  Before she could move, a body slammed into her, throwing her against the wall. Crystal apparently wasn’t a victim here. Natalia snarled. If she had to take on two attackers at once, so be it.

  Chapter 19

  Fear slid through Aldric’s veins as he raced through the woods on all fours. After Kat had telepathed Jayce that she and Natalia were checking something out, he and Aldric had headed after them.

  When not long after that, Kat told him she’d been caught in a trap and Natalia had fallen down a hole, his wolf had taken over. He could hear his brother racing behind him but didn’t slow, didn’t think of anything other than getting to Natalia.

  He would not lose her. Not now. Not ever.

  She was his. He’d failed one female and he couldn’t fail this one. Losing Natalia… No. Fuck, no. It wasn’t going to happen.

  Even with the falling snow, her wild vanilla and cherry blossom scent rolled over him, calling to him like a beacon. As he breached a cluster of trees he instantly spotted Kat hanging from some sort of net.

  “There!” she screamed, her claw-tipped finger pointing out through what had to be a silver-laced trap.

  Snarling, Jayce raced toward his mate as Aldric sprinted to the barely visible opening. White drifts of snow partially covered a trapdoor. Pure instinct took over. Without thinking—or caring—about the consequences, he dove through the opening. He landed on all fours on the concrete floor with barely a sound.

  Natalia had gone wolf, was ripping through the arm of a vampire female who was shrieking in pain. He couldn’t see the female’s face, didn’t care who she was. If Natalia was attacking her, the female deserved it.

  “Stupid fucking wolf!” Ivonne had a blade in her hand. Long and lean, she stalked toward Natalia, slashing up with the weapon as she lunged toward Natalia’s back.

  Aldric crouched low, using all the strength in his legs, and sprung at Ivonne.

  She turned, blade in hand and made an inhuman snarl. Her eyes had gone a wild, bright amber as her own primal side took over.

  He’d planned to go straight for her neck but when she raised the blade he shifted his momentum, rolling to the side at the last instant.

  She struck out, the blade slicing along his ribs. The silver burned through his flesh and singed his fur. He barely noticed it.

  Landing on all fours, he swiveled, facing off with her. Out of the corner of his eye he was aware of Natalia and the other female fighting. He wanted to go to her, to take out that vampire, but he kept his focus on Ivonne. He wouldn’t do Natalia any good if he got killed.

  The scent of Natalia’s anger bled into the cavern, overriding his worry for her. She wasn’t scared. She was pissed.

  He had to have faith in her abilities. She was young but she was a strong wolf. And she trained often at the ranch.

  Baring his canines, he circled Ivonne, who was holding her blade in one hand, extended claws tipping the other.

  “You won’t ruin this for me.” Her voice shook, the sound almost animal as she slashed out at him.

  He dodged back, avoiding another slice as she struck out. He didn’t want to kill her, but he would if he had to. No, he wanted this bitch alive for her coven to deal with. For everyone to know that she’d been the one who’d tried to undermine the peace treaty—had killed her own fucking mate. There was no doubt in his mind she’d murdered Leigh, not when she had the two missing vampires in an underground dungeon. He couldn’t imagine any reason good enough to murder your own mate so whatever her twisted logic was for trying to stop the peace treaty, no one would care.

  He snapped his teeth at her, circling slowly around the small space. He watched her movements, evaluating her weaknesses.

  He snapped his teeth again, which just seemed to enrage Ivonne. She dove at him, slashing with her claws this time. He ducked the blow, came up hard and sank his teeth into her elbow, ripping through the joint with a savage tear.

  Just as quickly, he let go and slammed his heavier body into hers. She grunted and he felt the blade slice along his ribcage but he threw her off balance with a hard shove.

  When Crystal screamed in agony, Ivonne screamed as well. Aldric wanted to turn around, to make sure Natalia was okay, but Ivonne was the bigger threat. He had to incapacitate her, or if it came down to saving Natalia’s life, kill Ivonne. Nothing could stop him from saving the woman he loved.

  Blood poured down Ivonne’s limp arm, pooling on the concrete below. Threads of tendons were the only thing keeping the limb attached. The metallic scent of her blood filled the air. “Stupid fucking wolves, trying to take everything from me!” She threw her head back and let out a shriek before lunging for him.

  He rose up on his back paws, giving her a perfect target. At the last minute, using supernatural speed and her own momentum against her, he ducked low, ramming into her legs.

  Bone cracked as he made impact with her knees. Her scream ripped through the air as she thudded against the concrete.

  Moving lightning fast, he pinned her to the floor, a heavy paw on her remaining arm as he wrapped his jaws around her throat. He pressed down, drawing blood, but didn’t tear through her neck like his wolf wanted him to.

  His most primal side sim
ply wanted to end this female’s life, to completely eliminate the threat to Natalia. He cared nothing for politics or the job he’d been hired to do.

  All that mattered was Natalia’s safety.

  The battle waged in his mind for only seconds before he let his human half take control. At the same moment, Jayce dropped down into the prison.

  With gloved hands he stalked toward them carrying what looked like silver ropes of some sort.

  Aldric moved off Ivonne, but not before raking his teeth against her neck in an act of pure aggression. She howled her agony, but he knew it wouldn’t kill her. Iron-tinged blood filled his mouth. He spit it out as his brother rolled the whimpering vampire to her stomach and hogtied her with the silver ropes.

  Trusting his brother to have his back, he whirled to face Natalia, who’d shifted back to human form. Patches of blood covered her naked body and Crystal’s decapitated corpse lay a few feet away.

  Growling, he shifted, the change slower this time now that adrenaline wasn’t punching through him. As the pain passed, he’d barely pushed to his feet when Natalia’s arms wrapped around him. The skin-to-skin contact soothed him even as his primal side reacted to the feel of her naked body against his. He was close to carrying her out of there, to hell with everything else.

  “You’re okay?” he asked, holding her tight. He wanted to run his hands over her, to check for injuries, but she was gripping him too firmly.

  And he didn’t want to let her go.

  “Yes,” she rasped out. “I didn’t want to kill her, but she left me no choice.” A sob ripped from her throat, her petite body trembling.

  Fuck. Fuck this whole situation. He hated that she’d been put in a position to kill again. She might be tough and full of attitude, but killing another being wasn’t something that would come easy to her.

  Her heart was too soft, too sweet.

  He cradled the back of her head, angled his own body in front of her so she couldn’t see the corpse. He stroked down her back, tracing his hand up and down her spine, ignoring Ivonne’s cries of pain. They needed to free Darius and Arthur, who looked worse for wear as they came out of their unconsciousness, and get Ivonne back to her coven leader to face justice for what she’d done.

  But for just a moment longer, he was going to hold on to the female he loved. The female he never wanted to let go.

  And be grateful that she was alive, that he’d gotten here in time. Without saying a word, he moved underneath the entrance, and, using all the strength in his body, propelled them out of that hellhole. He’d go back down there, but he wanted her away from the blood and death.

  * * *

  Natalia sat next to Kat on a bright purple velvet settee while Jayce and Aldric stood guard in front of them. After taking Ivonne to her coven leader, and freeing the Clifton vampires—and finding some clothing for Natalia, Kat and Aldric, since theirs had all been shredded during their shifts—they were all in a huge room in Elian Clifton’s mansion.

  Kat had been burned by the silver of the trap in the woods but she was mostly healed—and had made it clear to Jayce and anyone with ears that she wasn’t missing this meeting.

  Aldric and Jayce stood in front of her and Kat, basically guarding them. She understood that their wolves were feeling irrationally overprotective right now. It didn’t matter that the threat was neutralized. They hadn’t had any time alone since bringing Ivonne to Elian to be dealt with. Aldric had been incredibly gentle with her. Being near him made Natalia feel safe, even if she didn’t trust that feeling. Too many emotions bombarded her and she needed distance from him.

  “She needs to be publicly executed,” Constance demanded. She was sitting on Darius’s lap. She’d tried to stand a couple times, but the newly-freed male wasn’t letting her go.

  Elian Clifton, polished as ever, had his arms crossed over his chest as he stood next to Craig Kinley. The vampire coven leader and the shifter Alpha looked like a united front. Which boded well for the peace treaty.

  Craig cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Aldric. “You are welcome to stay for this, as the Brethren hired you.”

  There was a long pause and it took Natalia a moment to realize he meant that the rest of them—her, Kat, Jayce and Niko—needed to leave.

  It made sense, and she was so freaking tired she couldn’t even be offended. Because the truth was, they’d been hired to do a job. They’d done it. She didn’t care how Ivonne was punished. As long as she was. Wasn’t her business what happened from here.

  She stood at the same time Kat did. Aldric moved soundlessly, sliding an arm around Natalia’s waist, holding her close. “I’ll come with you.”

  She shook her head. “No, finish this. It’s important.” And it was. He needed to be here to accurately document what happened for the Brethren, and probably to question Ivonne himself. Then this job would be over.

  Aldric’s body vibrated with tension so she pressed a hand to his chest. She didn’t care about the others in the room, didn’t care about anything except him right now. She still wasn’t sure what would happen between them and it wasn’t something she could focus on at the moment.

  Nodding tightly, he said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  As she stepped away from Aldric, Jayce moved up to her, wrapped his free arm around her shoulders to guide both her and Kat from the room. They didn’t need the escort, but the tension completely ebbed from Aldric’s face as he watched them go.

  Because he trusted his brother to watch out for her.

  When they were finally outside the mansion, Natalia nudged Jayce. “Dude, I’m fine.” Physically, at least. She hadn’t been cut with any silver, just a few superficial claw wounds that had already healed. She’d killed that vampire in self-defense, but that didn’t mean she had to be okay with taking another life. Trembles wanted to overtake her, but she managed to keep her reaction hidden. Aldric had tried to comfort her as much as he could but she’d had to keep it together so they could free the males and get Ivonne—and Crystal’s body—back here.

  “I swear to God if either you say you’re fine one more time…” Jayce’s grip around her tightened once but then he let her go. He didn’t let go of Kat, however.

  Kat rolled her eyes. “We are fine. It was just some surface burns. I’m fine now. Fine, fine, fine.” She shoved up the sleeve of the borrowed T-shirt someone had given her to show completely unmarred skin.

  “Maybe you should see a healer,” Natalia said.

  Kat looked at her as if she was a traitor. “You can’t take his side.”

  “I’m not. I just…silver poisoning is scary.” She’d lost her parents and so many pack members to it a year ago. Way too many. Kat seemed completely fine but the paranoid part of Natalia’s brain wanted her friend to get checked out. Just to be cautious. Her throat tightened at the thought of something happening to Kat simply because she hadn’t gone to a healer.

  “Hell, I wasn’t even thinking about… I’m sorry, Natalia.” Distress rolled off her in waves. Kat frowned, looked at Jayce. “For the record, I don’t think I need one, but I’ll see a healer.”

  “I’ll make sure Natalia gets back to the B&B safely,” Niko said to Jayce.

  “She is standing right here, dude.”

  Giving her a half-smile, he shrugged. “Come on, I need to get back before sunrise anyway.”

  “Oh, right.” She turned to Kat. “Text me when you get to the healer, let me know what she says?” The Kinley pack had a very rare healer—Natalia’s own pack didn’t have one—who’d already offered her assistance to all of them.

  “I will.”

  Once in the SUV with Niko behind the wheel, Natalia leaned back against the passenger seat. She wanted a shower and her own clean clothes.

  “What do you think will happen to Ivonne?” she asked as he steered down the street. They were still in Clifton territory.

  “Once they finish questioning her, figure out the depth of her betrayal, she’ll definitely be executed.
If it’s up to the coven, they’ll drag her torture out for years. Decades, maybe.”

  She straightened in her seat. She’d known that vampires didn’t balk at torture, but that seemed excessive, even for them. “What?”

  “Killing her outright is nothing. It doesn’t send a strong enough message to vampires. And my kind…” He paused, took a left turn out of the gated community. “They need to know that undermining their coven leader will never, ever be tolerated. Simple death isn’t a deterrence, but the thought of decades of some of the most brutal torture will make someone think twice before betraying their leader or coven.”

  “Shifters really are different,” she murmured.

  He gave her a simple nod and they continued on in silence. When they reached the B&B she found a huge breakfast had been prepared for them by the proprietor. Though she hadn’t thought she’d be able to eat anything, the scent of bacon and pancakes proved her wrong.

  An hour later she’d eaten, showered and, even though she was exhausted, was anxiously awaiting word from Aldric and Kat. Kat finally texted, saying she was fine and that Natalia and Jayce were like old ladies worrying about her.

  When Aldric texted her, her heart rate kicked up about a hundred notches just seeing his name on her screen. Peace treaty still moving forward. Have to interrogate Ivonne then wrap up a few more things but I’ll be back in a couple hours. Then we’re going to finish what we started.

  A rush of heat blistered through her. Seeing the unexpected words took her off guard. Setting her phone in her lap, she stared at it for a long moment, emotions spiraling through her in an out-of-control tidal wave.

  Now that the case was over there was nothing in the way of…what? She’d forgiven him for the way he’d cut and run all those months ago. Knowing what she did about his past, what he’d been through, how could she not? But that didn’t mean she was ready to jump into a relationship.

  She was a mess right now, her emotions too conflicted. If she was here when Aldric got back, she knew she’d fall into bed with him. Before—or if—that ever happened, she needed distance. Needed to get her head on straight. And the truth was, she needed to know that he was damn sure she was who he wanted.