It wasn’t long before we heard the sounds of people chasing after us. Quinten and I picked up our pace, and I realized that if he wanted to, he could easily leave me behind. Unless I shifted, he was able to outrun me any day of the week.
Quinten jumped over a fallen tree, and I ducked under it. He grabbed my hand and dragged me along, refusing to go ahead of me. I didn’t even have to suggest it; I knew him like the back of my hand, and knew that he’d never leave me to fight alone, especially now that he was strong enough to fight on his own.
The bushes to our left parted, and a man jumped out at us, tackling me to the ground. The force of our impact tore me away from Quinten, and we crashed into the ground.
I felt the slice of the blade, and my left side instantly flared in pain. The man on top of me was bearded and he had angry eyes as he glared down at me. He pulled the knife from my side, where a long, deep cut began to bleed, and he started to move it to my throat.
It never got there.
Quinten appeared above his shoulder, and gripped the man’s shoulder. He ripped the man away from me, and threw him as hard as he could. The man slammed into a tree with a sickening crack. He slid down the trunk of the tree, before coming to a stop at the base.
He didn’t move again.
Quinten leaned down and lifted me up, swung me into his arms, threw my duffel bag over his shoulder, and started to run.
*****
Quinten carried me for another hour, and it was dark when we finally stopped. Quinten found an old, cheap motel near the edge of town. It was deserted, and looked like it hadn’t been used in years. He forced one of the windows opened, and we climbed into one of the rooms, and I instantly wished that I hadn’t.
Everything was covered in dust, debris, and old, dry leaves. Quinten shook out the old, threadbare comforter that was on the twin-sized bed, and I tried not to sneeze when I inhaled a decade’s worth of dirt and grime.
“Well, I guess this’ll have to do, for tonight anyways,” Quinten said, plopping down gracefully–if anyone could “plop” with grace–on the bed. He patted the spot next to him, and I tried not to wince when a cloud of dust billowed up.
Wrinkling my nose, I climbed in beside him. “What if they find us?” I asked quietly, scared that at any moment a dozen werewolves would kick down the door and arrest us.
“They won’t,” Quinten said, pulling me closer. “I promise.” He stiffened and pushed me away. “You’re bleeding.”
I looked down at the cut in my side. In the hour since it had happened, the wound had already started to heal, but it was still bleeding sluggishly, and when I moved it pulled painfully. When I touched it, the pain flared up.
“It’ll be alright in the morning.”
He reached a hand out to gently trace the open wound, and I leaned into his touch. “Are you sure? It looks pretty bad. You know, I think I tossed in some bandages, just in case. Let me get one.”
“Quinten, it’s fine, really.”
He ignored me and walked over to the duffel bag, which had been tossed carelessly on the ugly, purple-flowered loveseat. While he rustled around in it for a minute, I stripped my shirt off so he could see the cut better. After a minute, he pulled a white bundle of bandages out from the bottom.
When he turned to face me, he had a triumphant smile on his face. “Found…” he trailed off, and he dropped the bandages.
I realized with a shock that this was the first time he’d ever seen my body. We’d gone swimming together in the past, but he couldn’t see and, even though my body wasn’t anything special, it was obviously affecting him.
I slid off the bed and walked over to him, dropping the shirt on the couch beside the duffel bag. He openly stared at every inch of my body, as if he was seeing the sun for the first time, and I let him. I wondered how many times he’d imagined something like this, and I couldn’t bring myself to be embarrassed.
Quinten was my soul mate; why should I be ashamed for him to see my body?
He took a hesitant step closer, and lifted his arms to me. I stepped into his embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck, and pulling him as tightly against me as I could. His hands gently slid up my back, and I slid mine down his chest.
For a minute, neither of us moved. The only thing I noticed was the sound of our breathing, and the cars passing by on the road. Everything else was deathly silent, as if the world was waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, his lips crashed against mine with a wild fervor, and he slid his hands down, lifting me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, wanting every possible inch of my body to touch his.
He kissed a trail along my jaw, down my neck, and across my collarbone. His legs hit the frame of the bed and he dropped me against the mattress, before climbing up beside me. Finally, his mouth touched mine again, and I could feel the intense passion between us igniting like a fire.
His fingers deftly worked to unbutton his own shirt, and he slid it down around his broad shoulders. While he threw it in the corner of the room, I brushed my hands over the hard contours of his chest and shoulders, enjoying the feeling of fire against fire, as he quickly rid us of the rest of our clothes. Everywhere our body’s touched, little jolts of energy sparked between us, causing me to smile into his sweet kiss.
Everybody was wrong; our bodies were compatible. There was nothing keep us from being with one another, and we weren’t going to waste another moment of our lives. If we were going to die in the morning, it would be after the best night of our lives.
Quinten lowered me to the bed and he positioned himself carefully over me. After what felt like a millennium of painful waiting, it happened. The two of us were finally one. We’d finally broken the very final rule of our world, and Quinten and I were officially mates…
*****
In the morning, when I woke, I was pleasantly surprised to find Quinten still asleep beside me. His face was soft and peaceful in sleep, and I wondered for a brief second if he was dreaming about last night. If I were still asleep, I would have been.
Everything came rushing back and, even though I was happy that Quinten and I were finally mates, strangely enough, I felt like crying. We were lying in a crappy bed in a crummy motel, with threadbare furnishings and stained sheets.
I was upset now because I’d finally realized that my life wasn’t going to turn out how I’d always pictured it. I’d always waited for the day that I could move out and start my own life, and I’d had to put off my college plans after shifting for the first time, because I hadn’t wanted to risk hurting anyone until I got better control of myself.
But then, when Ray had finally deemed me ready to head off to school, Ilene had shifted, and I’d decided to stay home again, eager to help. Not that she probably needed it, considering how her life had turned out, but still.
I’d had plans to become a history teacher, and that was probably never going to happen. I would always be on the run, looking over my shoulder, hoping that nobody was lurking in the shadows, waiting to destroy me.
Quinten turned his head to look at me; his arms were crossed behind his head, and he was focusing intently on my face. I hadn’t even noticed him wake up.
“Alanna? What’s wrong?” He asked, noticing my tears.
I sighed. “This isn’t how I thought my life would be.”
“What do you mean? Do you regret last night?”
I looked at him. “No, of course not! I love you, Quinten, and I’m glad that we’re finally mates. It’s just that…I told you that I got accepted into MSU, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and then you didn’t go. I kind of wondered why, but I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”
“I got bit just days before classes were about to start, and I didn’t want to risk hurting anyone. Ray told me that I’d probably be fine to go, but I didn’t wanna chance it. I mean, all I had to do was lose control of myself for a split second and I could have exposed us, or maybe even kill someone. I didn’t want that.
“So, I
stayed home and didn’t go to school. But when I had the opportunity to go again, after getting some control of myself, Ilene turned. I thought that she’d be scared, and I thought I could offer her all the help that Ray offered me, so I stayed home again. Now I’m wishing that I hadn’t, because that was probably my only chance to do something with my life.”
“Alanna, that is not true. You and I are going to be around for a very, very, very long time. You can do anything with your life.”
I nodded. “I know, but how long will we be on the run? How long will I have to keep looking over my shoulder, looking for people who want us dead? We won’t be able to stay in one place long enough for me to go to school. I’ll never have the career I wanted.”
He snorted. “History teacher. I always kind of pictured you as a sexy nurse, myself.”
I tried to smile, and shook my head. “Not a chance, stud muffin. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher; to help others learn, and be all that they can be, as cliché as that sounds.”
He shrugged. “I think it sounds great. If that’s what you want, there’s no reason you can’t have that. Alanna, I know that things seem bad right now, but I promise you, they won’t stay that way. You and I are going to have a life together, no matter what it takes. After this is all over, you’re gonna be able to go to school, get your degree, get a job, and start your own life. Our life.”
I looked at him and really smiled. “What will you do?”
“Nothing, until I can get absolute control over myself. But I was actually thinking about running a construction company.”
I glanced at him. “What?”
He shrugged again, looking slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, I think that would be awesome. I’d get to work with my hands all day long, and I could actually do it now. I always wanted to be a construction worker when I was younger; it’s what my dad did, and I thought it was the coolest job ever. But, after my accident, I lost all of those dreams I had. I thought I’d grow old being a useless waste of space.”
“You can have a life now.”
“A great one, with you. We just need some time to get things straightened out. You’ll see, Alanna,” he said, getting out of bed. “Everything will work out for the best, I promise.”
The two of us continued to talk while we got dressed for the day. We had quite a bit to do: we had to find something to eat; we needed to make a plan; and we needed to find a safer place to hole up until everything blew over.
“Well, first thing’s first, we need to get some breakfast. There isn’t much we’re gonna be able to do on an empty stomach.”
I looked over at Quinten, just now noticing that his face was a little pale, and his eyes were darker than normal. His breathing was quick and shallow, and I could tell he was trying hard to focus on something other than what he was craving.
“You need blood.”
“I fed on, you know, on you. Yesterday,” he said, embarrassed.
“And you didn’t take enough. You need more, Quinten. I can–”
“No,” he said forcefully. “I’m not feeding from you again, not until I have absolute control over myself.”
“Well then where are you gonna get it? Have you ever fed without Carmen,” I said, sneering at the thought of her. “It could be dangerous to do alone. What if you accidentally kill someone? Could you live with that?”
He sighed. “Alanna, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. Besides, I can heal from it much faster than a human would. And to be honest, the though of you out there feeding on some other girl makes me kind of jealous.”
His eyes lifted to mine, and he frowned. “Alanna, you know it doesn’t mean anything, right? It’s just something I have to do. Those other people don’t mean anything to me, not like you do.”
“I know, but it still makes me jealous. Just feed from me. Quinten, I’m your soul mate; I should be able to give you everything you need. Besides, after what we shared last night, this should be easy. Right?”
He sighed, and I could tell I’d just won that argument. If I truly wanted it, he’d do it, just to make me happy.
“Alright, come here, and don’t move unless I say so, understand?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
His fingers slowly reached out and brushed the hair away from my neck. He leaned closer, and I could feel his warm breath on my skin. It gently tingled, and the hairs there rose in anticipation. He lightly pressed his lips to my neck, and I moaned, inching closer to him.
“Alanna,” he groaned. “Don’t move. It’s hard enough to concentrate without you obviously enjoying it so much.”
I smiled. “Quinten, it’ll be alright.”
He took a deep breath, and gasped in pain as his teeth tore at the skin of my neck. He fastened his mouth around the wound, and the bleeding stopped. He began to apply pressure, and he pulled me even closer, until I was pressed tightly against his chest.
The feeling of giving him blood was incredible, and I couldn’t help but think it was the most pleasurable experience of my life. Last night had been wonderful, but sharing blood was truly something else, and I never wanted it to end. It had to eventually though, because Quinten couldn’t take too much from me or risk hurting me.
When he pulled away, the absence of his warmth and love was tangible, and I almost whimpered. He placed a feather-light kiss on my lips, and pulled away again. “I don’t need anymore, Alanna,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Thank you, for everything.”
I nodded, and pulled him down for another kiss. I could still taste my blood on his lips, but it didn’t repulse me like I thought it would. Instead, it sent tingles through my body, and I ached for more. Did we have time?
“We have to go.”
I nodded, and the two of us cleaned up as best as we can. We packed our meager clothes and money, and made sure to leave behind as little sign of our stay as possible. We couldn’t take the time to wash the sheets, the bed, or get our scent out of the air, but this would have to do.
We finished cleaning the room, and closed the door behind us. We didn’t have a car, and we didn’t want to waste our money on a cab when we could just run for as long as we needed to. So the two of us jogged down deserted streets, trying to stay as hidden as possible. We didn’t want anyone to find us and tell Roger where we were.
For two and a half days we ran, stopping only to eat, and at night to sleep in old motel rooms. During the night, Quinten and I would take turns keeping watch, after spending part of the night in each other’s arms. Quinten and I both had a lot to learn about the physical side of love, but we were both patient with each other.
In the morning on our third day away from home, we found ourselves in a large city that was past the state line. I would have liked to go farther, but Quinten wanted to at least remain close to our home, so we could keep an eye on what was going on right now. Plus, he decided that staying in such a large city, with a population of over five hundred thousand, would help us blend in more than a smaller city farther away.
We raided the kitchen of a temporarily closed restaurant for breakfast. Quinten wanted to save as much of our money as we could, in case something happened to us. Quinten gave me half of the money in the event we got separated, and told me to keep it safely tucked away. I wasn’t sure how we’d get separated, since I wasn’t letting Quinten out of my sight, but he wasn’t to be prepared just in case.
Quinten held the back door of the restaurant open for me, grabbed my hand, and walked me out. He squinted up into the bright sunlight, and I gave his hand a comforting squeeze. The sunlight didn’t burn his skin as long as he fed, but it did give him a minor headache.
“Come on; let’s find a place to lay low for a while. We’ll get you out of the sun.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you lovebirds do that,” a voice said, stopping us in our tracks. Quinten dropped my hand and whirled into a defensive crouch, trying to shield me with his body. His eyes were locked on a figure shrouded in the darkness of a ne
arby building and, when he stepped into the light, I recognized him immediately as a werewolf.
Another man followed him, and he smirked at me. Two adult werewolves against a young one and a newly turned vampire. This fight isn’t going to be fair, and it definitely isn’t going to end well.
Chapter Ten
Quinten bared his fangs in a snarl. “What do you want from us?” he asked, taking a step forward. I could tell he wanted to attack, but he didn’t want to leave me exposed. He was forgetting that I could take care of myself, and of him if I had to. Even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself right now, I was still tempted to protect him anyway possible.
The smaller of the two men sidled over to get a good look at me. He was still taller than Quinten, and he was twirling a long, sharp knife in his hand. He whistled at me, and Quinten snarled as savagely as he could. “Damn, girl. I heard that you survived the Arena Wars, and even defied the Council and Roger Mason. What’s a woman like you doing with a bloodsucker like him? I can show you what a real man is like,” he said, making a kissing noise.
I placed my hand on Quinten’s back, “Don’t,” I hissed at him. “They’re baiting you. Don’t fall for it.”
“I won’t,” he assured me, relaxing his stance a bit. He wasn’t in a death crouch anymore, and I felt a little better about moving away from him. The smaller werewolf’s eyes widened when I took a step forward, and he grinned smoothly.
“Thinkin’ about takin’ me up on my offer, sweetheart?” He asked with a chuckle.
“Not a chance,” I said, glaring at him. “Now, if you wanna live past today, you’re gonna turn around and crawl back under whatever rock you slithered out from.”
They both laughed, which I sort of expected. The larger one cracked his knuckles threateningly and, without warning, charged at us. Quinten sprung forward, slamming into the stranger’s chest. Even though Quinten was smaller, he’d just fed from me a little over an hour ago, and it had given him a much needed energy boost.
The other stranger darted forward, brandishing his weapon. He slashed at my head, and I ducked, coming up behind him. I slammed my hands together on either side of his head, bursting one of his eardrums. He screamed and dropped to the ground, clawing at his bleeding ear.
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