by RK Close
But pain doesn’t come. In its place is a warm tingling sensation on my neck that begins to spread slowly through my body in soft waves. I must be dreaming, or I’m winning the mental battle to die on my own terms.
Forcing my eyes open, I find Adam’s head so close to mine. Instead of biting me, he’s gently licking my neck. I moan softly, and he hesitates. I begin to wonder if this is real or a dream. My head starts to throb again, so I know I’m not dead yet.
A single light bulb hangs from the ceiling and I become fixated on it. My neck no longer hurts. I raise my hand to feel his bare arm, and he flinches away from my touch. His eyes are still quite dark, but the ring of blue is bigger than before. I search his face for signs of recognition and find hunger and pain so deep I want to cry out. Hot tears slide down my face. I don’t even have the strength to hug him; not that he’d let me.
We simply stare into each other’s eyes, looking for answers. We are not out of the woods yet, but he’s fighting. My heart feels as though it will burst from all the love I feel for this man.
“Adam…” My voice is barely a whisper.
With a crashing noise the metal door suddenly flies open, barely hanging on by one of its hinges. From our prone positions on the floor, we look at the door.
Standing in the doorway are Jacob, Sean, and Colin O’Donnell. Several others are behind them, but these are the only faces I recognize.
What happens next is pure chaos. The three men move at a speed that isn’t possible for the fastest human. In the next few seconds, Adam is ripped from me and pinned to the wall on the other side of the room. He fights them and they struggle to hold him.
I scream. “Adam!” Suddenly Leila is by my side preventing me from rising. I don’t have the strength to get up even if she wasn’t here.
Adam roars his anger into the small room, and I hear shouts and grunts as the three men fight to hold him.
“He stopped! He stopped himself. Please don’t hurt him, Jacob,” I say, but it sounds weak. I don’t think my condition and Adam’s resistance is helping our defense.
Jacob looks over his shoulder at me and seems to be reassessing the situation. He looks back at Adam, who doesn’t look like he’s in control, but I know he healed my wounds and stopped himself from killing me. He may not be himself fully, but he’s working his way back to me, and I don’t want to see him hurt.
“He attacked you. I know he’s starved for blood and you are apparently missing enough to be severely weakened,” Jacob says firmly as he studies his friend more closely.
“He did attack me, but he stopped himself, and he healed my wounds,” I plead. “Jacob, look for yourself. He needs blood. He didn’t take enough from me. Please help him,” I beg.
Jacob, who has his forearm on Adam’s chest and holds his throat with his other hand, looks deep into Adam’s eyes. Adam bares his teeth at Jacob in return. Sean and Colin continue to help restrain him against the wall.
“Leila?” Colin asks over his shoulder.
“Her neck is healed, but I think her weakened state is due to loss of blood.” Leila assesses my neck and the rest of my body, searching for damage. She looks back at Colin and shrugs.
“I’ll do it,” Sean says.
Leila moves quickly to take Sean’s place holding Adam’s arm. There’s a bit of a scuffle with the changing of the guard as Adam resists their hold on him.
Sean pulls a knife from his pocket and runs it across his wrist. I see a thin line of crimson from where he drew the blade across his skin. Adam thrashes violently as he sees and smells the blood. Sean wastes no time with formality and raises his wrist to Adam’s mouth.
Adam does not hesitate to bite down on Sean’s wrist, drawing more blood than the offered cut.
Sean winces at the pain and my affection for him doubles as I watch him save the man I love. He looks over his shoulder at me and meets my gaze. I give him a weak smile, and he winks at me before turning back.
Colin doesn’t look happy about what Sean is doing, but he doesn’t say a word as he watches in silence.
Adam’s eyes are closed as he drinks deeply from Sean. This goes on for several minutes until color returns to Adam’s skin and Sean’s shoulders begin to sag.
“Enough,” Colin commands, and Adam’s eyes fly open as he releases Sean’s wrist.
Adam’s mouth is bloody and his eyes are glowing blue flames once more. I’m so relieved, even if my body doesn’t have the strength to show it. His gaze finds me immediately and again there is such pain and regret in those eyes.
Then his face clouds with fury as he turns to look at Jacob who begins unlocking the chains on Adam’s wrists. Relief rolls off Jacob’s body, but his face is still grim. “Giselle fled. She killed two of the Mojave Pack, making her escape,” Jacob says, glancing at Colin who’s examining Sean’s wrist.
Adam faces Colin. “I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for coming to our aid.” That’s all that is said. Colin gives him a curt nod.
Adam turns his attention to Sean who is now sitting on the pile of wooden pallets, holding his wrist and applying pressure to the wound. He walks the short distance to where Sean is resting and places a hand on the other man’s shoulder, looking him in the eye.
“Thank you,” Adam says, and Sean nods his head before glancing at me. It warms my heart to see this. The last time they were in the same room together Adam had Sean up against a wall threatening to kill him.
Adam moves to my side so quickly that I gasp as he takes my hand and touches the side of my face. My reaction cost him dearly. He must think I’m afraid of him. I know we are surrounded by others, but I can’t help turning my face toward his hand. Relief makes my eyes want to flutter shut for a hundred years. I’m so tired.
Adam doesn’t say I’m sorry. He doesn’t need to. It’s all over his face in hard lines. His eyes are blazing brightly, and I know there’s a certain witch he wants to hunt and kill. I just want everyone to go away so he can hold me.
“Adam…” I start to say.
He brings his wrist up to his teeth and prepares to bite. I grab his arm weakly, and he hesitates.
“Is this necessary?” I ask.
It takes everything to voice my disapproval of using blood to bring me back to health. The way I’m feeling, I already know it’s the best and maybe only option.
“You’ve lost too much blood. You’re as pale as death. Do you trust me?” he asks.
“With my life, vampire.”
His lips threaten to turn up in a smile before he bites into his wrist. I’m reminded of the first time I saw him do this and how terrified I was. I’m no longer afraid, but I’m not looking forward to drinking anyone’s blood, even with the healing properties and excellent side effects. Last time this happened, I was blissfully unconscious.
There’s no more time to think about it as he moves his bleeding wrist to my lips. I try not to think about what it is, as I part my lips. Warm liquid fills my mouth slowly, and I realize that it doesn’t taste anything like I expected. My hands grasp Adam’s wrist, and I lock it in place.
My eyes are enormous and full of wonder as I suck hard to draw the blood into my mouth. One word keeps pounding inside my head, over and over.
More.
I can’t get enough. It tastes like nothing I can describe, but it’s like water to the thirsty, pollen to bees. My gaze locks with Adam’s, and I know he is affected by what’s happening to me. I can see myself through his eyes and I’m…beautiful to him. My own green eyes are large, and the specks glow around my dilated pupils. Alarmed by the vision of my eyes as they begin to glow, I find the strength to stop.
My head no longer hurts. I suddenly feel as though I could run a marathon, and I don’t run more than six miles on my best days. I never look away from Adam.
“That tasted way too good. Am I becoming like you?” I ask, fear lacing my words.
“No, but it appeals to you because of our earlier connection. You are still you.” His look is intense but I�
�m relieved by his words.
Ignoring everyone in the room and the ones crowding near the door, I reach up and pull Adam to me. In one quick motion, he slips his arms around me and our lips meet in a passionate kiss that holds all the emotion, pain, worry, fear, and desperation of the past week. Adam matches my kiss with his own—as if he can erase the last few hours from existence. It just might work—I can’t think of anything but him and this kiss.
Someone clears their throat, and we reluctantly break away, our foreheads still touching. I reach to touch Adam’s face, and he turns and kisses my hand. I hear, rather than see, people leaving the room as Adam gets to his feet and easily pulls me with him. I slide my arms around his body and hug him to me.
He wraps strong arms around me and I feel him rest his head on mine. All the emotions I’d been trying to hold back come out in silent tears as I bury my head into his chest.
“You can never leave me like that. I thought I’d lost you…again.” I pull back to let him see I’m serious.
“I’m not leaving you. But you’d be wise to send me away.” His look says he’s serious, and I want to slap him or scream at him for even suggesting it.
“I know what you’re thinking. I’ll take my chances. I can’t stand the thought of being separated like that. Tell me you won’t leave me…for my own good or anything stupid like that,” I say.
He guides me toward the door. “I’m not capable of doing the honorable thing where you’re concerned,” he says, not looking at me.
“Good.”
When I step through the door, I see the warehouse better, and it does appear to be abandoned. I can’t tell what it was ever used for. There must be twenty other people milling about or in the process of leaving. Jacob is having words with Colin and Sean when we approach.
Across the warehouse, I see several men carrying a body out of the building. A woman is being comforted by another as she follows behind them. I look at Sean, and he shakes his head. His pack came to our aid today and paid a high price. Two people died trying to save us. They were someone’s son or daughter, maybe a spouse or…a parent. My chest tightens at the thought.
I pull away from Adam and place a hand on Colin O’Donnell’s forearm. “I’m so sorry, Colin. Is there anything I can do for their families? I wouldn’t want to be saved at the cost of another,” I say.
“It wasn’t your choice. Everyone here volunteered. Those who died understood that a witch with that sort of power was a threat to us all. We won’t stop hunting Giselle until she’s dead.” He follows the others outside.
His words don’t take away my guilt or the feeling of loss, but they do help me to understand why they came. It wasn’t just to save me—maybe it wasn’t about Adam or me at all. The entire supernatural community recognizes Giselle as a threat. I’ll ask Jacob how she managed to kill two werewolves in the first place. Then I remember that she practically killed me without even touching me. I don’t believe she ever planned to kill me with the curse. She’s too smart for that. She just needed to slow Jacob’s investigation down to stay one step ahead of him.
She’s still out there.
As if sensing my thoughts, Adam moves next to me and slips his arm around me. We follow Jacob out of the building and into the night.
38
Homecoming
Once Jacob discovered Giselle’s connection to an unsuspecting human man, he convinced the Mojave Pack to track his scent from my condo, which led them to the warehouse. It took the combination of both our scents to track us and it was over many hours.
Jacob knew that I wore the pendent and figured out that Giselle was using mortals as tools.
Turns out that Giselle had compelled a human to knock me out and remove my charmed pendant and dagger. Jacob found both next to a computer that was monitoring our imprisonment. He also found a journal that was left behind in her haste.
On the way home, Jacob filled us in on how he discovered that Giselle had been using unknowing humans to do much of her dirty work. She used different people for each of her deliveries of black roses. At times, she used different men to track me so Jacob and Adam wouldn’t detect her presence.
I felt a sense of relief when Jacob handed them to me…for all the good they did me. Truth be told I was feeling invincible wearing the pendant and carrying the dagger. I’ll be more careful of threats, both supernatural and human moving forward.
We picked up Dayna on the way home but had to wait for five minutes while she hugged me and cried happy tears. Dayna had returned from Palm Springs on her own, deciding that she would rather face supernatural threats than be cooped up any longer. She was not happy with Jacob because he had left her home, to rescue me. Dayna had argued with him that she was coming to help, if I was in danger.
This was the first time I’d seen Dayna angry with Jacob. I sort of like it. It makes their relationship seem that much more normal.
But it was Adam’s account of how powerless he was against Giselle’s potent magic that made me shiver. That much power in the hands of a single witch with an ax to grind was enough to make me want to sleep with one eye open. She had planned his punishment long ago—willing to wait another three hundred years for Adam to care for another. She waited for him to show weakness, a chink in his armor.
Giselle decided to kill me when she heard that I’d defeated Zachariah—out of some misplaced loyalty, no doubt. But when she discovered Adam had feelings for me, she changed course to set her long-awaited plan into motion.
I can’t imagine hating someone for so long that your entire existence is bent on their destruction. What a lonely life that must be. Even with all that Giselle did to Adam and me, I still can’t bring myself to hate her.
All she did was love a man who turned her into something powerful and feared, only to leave her. If that wasn’t bad enough, her sisters were killed in front of her and because of her. I can’t think of a more tragic story than Giselle’s. After the death of two of the Mojave pack, I doubt there will ever be a happy ending for her. She may have sealed her fate with their blood on her hands.
***
Dayna seems to have forgiven Jacob as she cuddles with him on the sofa in the penthouse. Adam and I have lost all pretenses as we lounge on the opposite couch—my legs draped over Adam’s lap. This is one of the most ordinary moments we’ve all shared together. It feels nice.
Adam’s hand slides along my leg, sending little chills through me. There’s a feeling of peace here, even though someone who wants us dead is still at large. Safety is an illusion. Somewhere along the way, I realize that I chose this when I fell for Adam. What will a future with him look like? I can’t imagine him not being a part of my life, so I don’t care enough to worry about it.
“Well, we’ve survived yet another crazy situation, and here we are ordering pizza, drinking wine, and discussing our victory,” Dayna says, pointing around the room with her wine glass. “Okay, Sam and I are ordering pizza and drinking wine. You two are just sitting around looking like it’s just another day on the job and no big deal.” She laughs. “Adam, you almost died. And you fought your inner beast to save Sam! We should be celebrating or something.”
Adam doesn’t look pleased by Dayna’s enthusiastic account of what happened. Jacob makes a coughing noise and gets up to pour her some more wine, throwing us an amused smile as he does. While Jacob is in the kitchen, the doorbell rings and Adam gently moves my legs to answer it. He returns carrying a pizza box, and Dayna jumps up to retrieve it from him. She takes his place next to me on the sofa so we can make fast work of the large pepperoni and pineapple pizza. I had to beg Dayna not to order the cheese-less, sauce-less gluten-free chicken pizza. Why bother?
Jacob returns with two wine glasses balanced in one hand and plates, and napkins in the other. He takes one look at Dayna and me with our hands and mouths full of pizza and laughs, shaking his head. I give him a sheepish look, knowing we must look like a couple of cave women.
***
An alm
ost empty pizza box sits next to a couple of empty wine bottles. Dayna’s fallen asleep on Jacob’s lap, and I’m about to fall over myself. In a smooth motion Jacob scoops Dayna up, and she mumbles something we can’t understand as he carries her down the hall. Over his shoulder, he says ‘goodnight’ to us.
I look up to find Adam watching me. “Would you stay with me tonight? I promise to be a gentleman.”
Part of me doesn’t want him to be a gentleman, but the fact that he’s trying to respect my wishes on the sex issue makes me love him even more.
“I wasn’t going to let you out of my sight,” I say. He leans down and brushes my lips with his.
Standing by my personal choices is difficult at times. Like right now. But I’d like nothing more than to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep curled up next to him. Okay, maybe I’d like more someday, but I’ll settle for this moment now. We untangle from one another, and he takes my hand as we walk down the hall to his room.
I start kicking off my shoes and am wondering if he has an extra toothbrush I can borrow when the doorbell rings again. Adam stops preparing a fire in the fireplace and looks at me. It’s after midnight. Nothing good ever comes from late night phone calls or visitors. He’s gone in a flash, and I jump up to run down the hall and see who is here. It feels as though it takes forever for me to reach the front door.
When I finally arrive, I stop dead in my tracks and dread fills me. Adam stands with his head against the door and one hand on the handle, as if he’s considering opening it or not. He throws me an annoyed look over his shoulder, and I raise my eyebrows in question.
From the other side of the door, I hear a familiar voice say, “Open the damn door, vampire. I know you’re there.”
I clutch the back of a chair because I’m certain my legs will give out on me. Adam turns and gives me an unreadable look.
“Gabriel,” I whisper.
I can’t believe I’m hearing his voice. Instinct demands I run to the door and throw it open, but that would mean having to move Adam out of my way. With the look, he’s giving me, I wonder what he’s thinking. Surely he knows that I love him—after all that we’ve been through, the moments we’ve shared.