Reclaimed

by Diane Alberts

  “Run, Sabrina. Go to Isaac,” he yelled as he held Louisa down. She bucked against him and growled as she struggled to free herself. Sabrina tore her gaze from the fight and forced her feet to flee in the direction of home. Hisses and snarls filled the air around her as she sprinted away. She worried about Elijah, but also knew she had to get away. Her being there actually made him weaker.

  It annoyed her to admit it. But that didn’t make it any less true.

  The house lay in her sight when she got grabbed from behind, and she screamed in terror as arms clasped around her. She fought against her captor, fear giving her the strength to fight for her life. A hand slapped across her mouth, and she kicked harder to make up for the loss of sound. A grunt came from her captor when her foot succeeded in kicking its target, and the arms tightened around her even more, cutting off her breath.

  “Jesus, Sabrina, stop it. It’s me, Isaac. Calm down or we’ll have Connor running to see what is wrong,” he whispered urgently in her ear.

  Hearing the familiar voice, she sagged in his arms and attempted to catch her breath, which still came out in harsh pants from her struggles. Isaac, sensing she’d stopped fighting him, removed his hand from her mouth.

  “What happened?”

  “I went to the clearing, and Elijah came to see me.” She took a deep breath, “Nothing happened, I swear. He got upset and I consoled him. Nothing more.”

  “Shh, it’s okay. I trust you, Sabrina. What happened to make you run?”

  His statement gave her pause, but she forced herself to continue. “Louisa came along. She taunted me, telling me how she’d kill me like she had Amelia. She also told me I needed to know the truth about how Amelia really died. Elijah pushed me away and told me to run. They were fighting when I ran away.”

  “Shit.” He ran his fingers through his hair and cursed under his breath, presumably warring at the desire to bring her inside to safety, and his equally strong desire to rid her of the threat of Louisa. “If I go and try to get her now when she’s off guard, I might stand a chance of beating her. But it could be held against me later. If I don’t get her, she could hurt you. I have to do something.”

  “Not that!” she exclaimed. “Never that. You can’t risk yourself. There’ll be another day to get her. Without breaking any rules,” Sabrina insisted.

  She could tell by the look in his eyes his mind had already been made up, and not in the way she wanted. She shook her head, but to no avail.

  He kissed her hard. “Go. I love you.”

  “Isaac, no,” she cried. But he vanished out of her sight before she could take a step in his direction. Fear and fury warred inside her, each trying to claim a stronger hold over her than the other. Though it killed her to do so, she ran toward the house. She’d reached halfway across the lawn when she slid to a stop. Screw this. She needed to find out what happened.

  Sabrina bolted back, desperate to help in some way. She refused to cower in fear while Isaac broke every rule he’d ever followed—every rule he’d ever made—for her. She pressed herself harder than she had ever done before to get to Isaac before it was too late to do something, anything, to help. When she finally reached the clearing, she doubled over, grabbing her knees as she attempted to catch her breath, while simultaneously scanning the area. Isaac was there, but alone. He stood still, head cocked to the side. Deciding he looked safe enough for the moment, she backed away silently, hoping to return home unnoticed.

  Please don’t let him see me; please don’t let him—

  “I should have known better than to assume you would go home, shouldn’t I have?” His voice had a resigned tone to it, laced with equal parts amusement and frustration. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow, and she flushed.

  Son of a bitch.

  “I couldn’t just leave you.”

  “You left Elijah,” he pointed out.

  “You’re not Elijah,” she stated.

  His eyes widened, and he studied her so intensely her heart stalled.

  “What she means is I can take care of myself, but she doesn’t think you can,” Elijah spoke from above their heads.

  Her eyes widened in shock, and she tilted her head back to scan the trees above. Did he want to get himself killed? She found him crouching on an impossibly high branch, and Elijah jumped down and landed on his feet, in a crouched position upon the ground.

  “I don’t think so,” Isaac grumbled. “Still hiding from me?”

  “I didn’t know if you wanted me to show myself.”

  “Better than spying on us from above.”

  Thunder crashed in the distance as he glared at his mirror image. He apparently did not like the image of Elijah lurking in shadows, watching them. She couldn’t blame him; neither did she.

  “Isaac, calm down,” Sabrina warned. They didn’t need another Enforcer interfering in this mess, so he needed to keep his emotions in check.

  He nodded and pulled himself together. “Where’s Louisa?”

  “Gone. She ran away after Sabrina left. You should really get her in her house now. Or are you going to leave her outside in another endearing fit of jealousy?” Elijah asked hopefully, perking up in his excitement. “I’d be happy to escort her.”

  Isaac growled, and Elijah laughed.

  “Knock it off, Elijah,” Sabrina snapped. “It’s not funny.”

  He sobered at her admonishment and gave a curt nod of his head. “Go now, before she decides the stage is set nicely and returns.”

  “Elijah—” she started.

  “Sabrina, go. Now.” He stared at her, love in his eyes, and she tore her gaze away.

  Isaac grasped her hand and dragged her away. She looked over her shoulder, and her heart broke a little at Elijah’s face. Isaac squeezed her hand and she met his eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile. He paused and turned to Elijah. “I’ve changed my mind. We’ll work together. Meet me here at ten o’clock tonight so we can work out the details.”

  Sabrina gasped in horror as Elijah nodded.

  “Oh, hell no!” she shouted in fury.

  “Oh hell, yes,” Isaac insisted, his jaw set stubbornly.

  Not allowing her the decency of a proper fight, he pulled her into his arms and ran full speed to the house. In seconds, they were behind the locked door. She wasted no time turning on him in rage.

  “Isaac, you can’t do this. What if the others find out?”

  He tensed and looked out the window. “I can’t let her hurt you, and not do everything in my power to stop her.”

  “Letting you kill yourself over me is not in my power.” She pushed his chest. “Look at me!”

  His eyes collided with hers, and his jaw hardened even more. Not a good sign. “Watching you die is not in mine.”

  “Your life will be forfeit if you do this,” she argued.

  “My life is forfeit without you,” he cried in frustration. “I won’t budge in this. I need you to be safe. I am willing to take the risk of discovery, so long as I know you are alive and free from Louisa.”

  Sabrina glared at him. “I will not let you destroy yourself for me. What kind of person would I be if I allowed you to do this? I’ll leave here right now, if that is what it takes to get you to stop this nonsense. Not killing your brother is one thing, but joining him? It’s treason.”

  Isaac growled low in his chest, and pinned her between the wall and his hard body. “You will not leave me, do you understand? You are mine.”

  Her eyes widened in apprehension at this new side of Isaac. Unsure how to proceed, she nodded and watched him nervously. Dare she argue more? He dropped his forehead against hers and pulled her into his arms.

  “I can’t bear even the thought of you not in my life, so please don’t threaten me like that. Ever.” His voice wavered.

  Remorse came over her. “I’m sorry, Isaac. I won’t do it again.”

  She laid her head on his chest and breathed in the scent of his skin. She bit her lip in an attempt to hold back her tears. The time fo
r arguing was over. He had made up his mind. No amount of arguing on her part would change it.

  He remained quiet as well, probably plotting how he and Elijah would team together to overcome Louisa and keep Sabrina safe.

  Sabrina, however, schemed to stop him. No matter what he said, her priority would always be his safety. And the plan he’d agreed to didn’t allow for him to be out of harm’s way.

  In fact, it put him directly in its path.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sabrina and Isaac were curled up on the couch, sipping White Zinfandel, when she remembered something Louisa had said to her earlier. How had she neglected to tell Isaac about Louisa having sent the dream to her?

  “I forgot, Louisa told me she showed me the dream last night, so I would remember what had happened.”

  Isaac gawked at her before shrugging. “It makes sense, I suppose. She’s sick,” he said in disgust.

  “If she showed it to me, how did I get in Amelia’s head? I heard her thoughts; I felt every broken bone she received.” She shuddered at the memory.

  Isaac looked troubled for a moment, before shrugging. “Maybe it’s how she chose to show you the memory? I really don’t know what else it could mean. Unless if you are Amelia reincarnated, and you were therefore remembering it as it happened to you?”

  She scoffed. “Do I even act like her?”

  He pondered her question before answering, “In some ways, yes. You have the same smile, same laugh. You get the same determined look on your face when you decide upon a course of action. But you are a lot braver and stronger than she was and a hell of a lot more stubborn, too.” He quirked an eyebrow at her. “And you didn’t screw my brother.”

  She swatted his arm and debated whether she dare ask him the question that pulled at her heart daily. “Do you love me because you think I’m her?”

  She lay on her side, her legs curled to her stomach. At her question, he sighed and leaned over her, rested his cheek upon the curve of her hip, and draped his arm around her legs.

  “No. I’ll admit it’s what drew me to you originally. But it’s you I love, more than I have ever loved another. I can’t breathe fully if you aren’t near, I can’t sleep. And life? Meaningless. You are my life. Without you, I simply wouldn’t exist. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. By my side.”

  She drew in a breath and stroked a hand over his shoulders. “I feel exactly the same.”

  He looked troubled at her statement, instead of pleased. “Sabrina, are you planning something? There’s nothing you need to do, nothing you can do, to keep me safe. I’ll be fine. I don’t need your help. You’ll only weaken my defenses. Can’t you see that?”

  She looked in his eyes and lied. “I’m not planning anything. I was thinking about how long it’s been since you kissed me.” She tugged his hair until he rose over her, smiling.

  “I mean it, Sabrina,” he warned with a growl.

  “I know, I know,” she whispered as she kissed him lightly. He succumbed to her demand, and when he tried to pull away from her, she clung to his neck. She didn’t want him questioning her, dreaded he’d see it in her eyes that she’d lied. “Let’s make a storm.” She trailed kisses down his neck and pushed his shoulders until he lay on his back. She flicked her tongue over his skin, and she worked her way down his firm stomach.

  He took a deep intake of breath as she caressed his erection, and a boom of thunder shook the house when her lips closed around him. His penis felt so silky smooth and hard against her tongue, a contradiction at its finest, and she couldn’t help but moan throatily as she took all of him in her mouth. He threaded his hands through her hair and brokenly whispered her name. The sound made Sabrina squirm in anticipation.

  Apparently, he could take no more of her sweet torture. He threw her on her back and rose over her. In one movement, he entered her and they both groaned in satisfaction.

  He thrust inside her, and her hips rose in a dance as old as time itself, until they both climaxed and collapsed into each other’s arms.

  They remained in their lovers’ embrace until the alarm on Isaac’s phone went off, and he sighed and left her arms. He kissed her goodbye, and murmured, “Stay here, I won’t be long.”

  She nodded and closed her eyes against his scrutiny, feigning exhaustion. He didn’t seem fooled, however. Hell, acting had never been one of her skills.

  “Please, stay here,” he pleaded. “I’d tie you to the bed if I thought it would make you stay.”

  “I’d like to see you try.” She grinned at him in challenge. He drew in a breath, and his eyes darkened at the mental image she must have planted in his head.

  When in doubt, distract with sex. Works every time.

  “Hmm, maybe another day?” he suggested. “Could be fun…given the right circumstances.”

  She didn’t answer him, and he gave a frustrated sigh, leaving the room.

  When the door shut, she counted to sixty and hopped off the couch. She dressed faster than ever before. She didn’t want to miss their meeting.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Isaac scanned the clearing for his brother and found him draped across a giant boulder.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Elijah asked without preamble.

  They both knew they couldn’t waste time on niceties. Nor did Isaac care for them. He had a job to do, pure and simple. He had no desire to forgive his brother, or to become friends. Hell no, he did this for Sabrina and Sabrina only.

  Isaac cocked his head. “We need to set a trap for Louisa. When one of us is distracting Louisa, the other can try to sneak up on her. No, that won’t do at all. She will see us coming, and know what is happening. Louisa’s impossible to beat. We’ll never—” He paced in agitation as he ran a hand through his hair.

  Elijah interrupted him. “No, I may have a plan. It came to me earlier. She’s always lusted after me. We can both attest to as much.” Isaac gave a curt nod of his head and met Elijah’s eyes. More than likely, Elijah also remembered just how much she had desired him, and how far she would go to get him. “I can entice her, make her think she has a chance. Distract her using kisses and caresses. That’s where you take advantage of her distraction. If you know what I’m saying.”

  “Will she fall for such an old trick, after all this time you’ve spent hating her?” Isaac scoffed. Louisa would believe that all of a sudden, Elijah couldn’t keep his hands off of her? Not bloody likely.

  Turning red, Elijah looked away from Isaac’s scrutiny. “There have been moments of weakness. We have—”

  Isaac’s eyes widened as he realized what his brother alluded to. He glared and snapped, “You’ve had sex with the woman responsible for killing Amelia, the same woman responsible for making us what we are? Is this what you’re telling me?”

  “Oh, spare me the righteousness of Isaac, if you will.” Elijah snarled as he made a dismissive gesture of his hand. “We vampires don’t exactly have a whole lot of choices out there, unlike you. If we try to take a human, they usually die in our arms. You, however, can have anyone you want, minus the repercussions. So don’t judge me.”

  “Some people just do without,” Isaac argued. His cheeks flushed when Elijah studied him, and he avoided his gaze and shifted on his feet. He hadn’t meant to let that slip. “So you keep her otherwise occupied. Then, what, I run up behind you and snap her head off?”

  “Precisely,” Elijah drawled.

  “How would we arrange the time, and place? We’d also need a signal, one no Enforcers would catch on to.” Isaac tensed, and shouted, “God damn it, Sabrina!”

  Elijah stared at him in confusion before he, too, sensed her presence. He whipped his head in her direction, and they both glared at her as she walked into the clearing. She held her head high, and her chin set stubbornly. Her eyes flashed in the moonlight as thunder boomed overhead. She had never looked so gorgeous, and he had never been so goddamned furious.

  Once, just once, could she listen to him? Isaac rushed
to her, pausing only to glower at Elijah when he headed toward her as well. Oh, hell no. Sabrina belonged to him, and Elijah needed to remember it. Now.

  Elijah, heeding the unspoken warning, instantly halted, though his fists remained clenched.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Sabrina? Are you crazy?” Isaac whispered.

  She glared and answered, “No. I’mnot. I’m not the one risking my head for treason.”

  Isaac opened his mouth to retort, only to be interrupted by Elijah. “Perhaps she’s here for a reason, Isaac.”

  That earned a hiss from Isaac, but he did manage to ask using great control, “Is there something wrong, Sabrina?”

  She hesitated and her gaze darted from him to Elijah speculatively. She looked terrified of what she wanted to say, but her chin jutted out nonetheless. If she was scared by what she had to say, he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it either. At all.

  “I’d like Elijah to change me,” she stated.

  Not like it? Understatement of the century.

  Thunder crashed overhead, and Isaac found himself incapable of words, so he sputtered. The wind whipped around the trio at hurricane-like speeds, and Sabrina braced herself against a tree to fight the force of the winds pulling at her.

  “Isaac, you need to calm down!” Elijah yelled as he approached Sabrina, presumably to help keep her from floating away in the wind. He got rewarded for his admonishment when Isaac pushed him, slamming him into the boulder he had previously rested upon.

  The message, Isaac felt certain, came out loud and clear. Isaac stalked away from them both and punched a tree. The tree proceeded to shudder, and a cracking sound filled the air it crashed to the ground. Sabrina screamed, and Elijah hurried to her side to put a soothing hand on her shoulder. This did not help his anger very much.

  Apparently the message hadn’t been as clear as he had thought.

  Anger oozed out of his pores like a sickness as Isaac stalked toward them, but he halted when he saw how petrified Sabrina looked. He growled and sat down to hold his head in his hands in an attempt to calm himself. She’d asked to be bitten. She’d actually requested to become a monster, to become his enemy.