“The stories…they’re true, aren’t they?” She said, after a moment .
“Yeah, they’re true .”
He looked down at her, and saw a blissful calm spread over her face as she looked into his eyes. She smiled at him, “I always thought they might be .”
12
“E va – I have to tell you something” his tone was harsher, the curtness returning. He sat up, gently folding her away from him .
Eva had her dreamy state rudely interrupted by panic and a bleak sense of impending pain, “What is it?” she asked .
“It’s about how I got like this. About your father.” He hesitated before continuing .
Eva had brought the covers up around her naked form, and he suddenly wanted to howl at the sight of her defensive and distanced from him. But he couldn’t not tell her now. Not now that she felt part of his very soul .
“Your father was like me, like this. He was pack leader and had wanted to turn me since I was young. He decided that he would do it the night my father and I went to the White Mountains. I didn’t know – I’m so sorry, Eva. It was an accident. He attacked me in wolf form - I didn’t know it was him .”
Eva stared at him blankly. She felt ice-cold shock creep through her veins. This can’t be happening, this can’t be true. He whole world felt like it was splintering and cracking. I love you. Please don’t let this be true .
“It was an accident Eva – I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.” He met her gaze, and almost welcomed the pain that it caused him to do so .
“Eva, I’m in love with you. I’ve can’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. My world only wakes up when you’re in it. When you went away to study I was so happy – I didn’t want you to end up in this town, but every time you returned it was like the sun came out, you’re everything to me Eva .”
She looked at him, uncomprehending. She didn’t understand how he could have felt this way all these years and never said or done anything. Only now, after killing her father, did he come to her . Why ?
“Sebastian…I…I need some time. I think.” Her words sounded cold to her own ears .
She saw the shutters come down across his face, the cold and dispassionate look replace the openness and warmth from only moments before, but she couldn’t find a way to soothe him .
Sebastian picked up his jeans and threw them on hastily, ignoring the rest of his things and walked out of the bedroom door without looking back .
She started to scream in her head for him to return, not to leave her, but the words wouldn’t form in her mouth .
13
S he had stayed up late, immobile on her bed, crying and regretting asking Sebastian to leave. She must have slept at some point, as dawn was breaking through the curtains when she awoke .
When she pulled opened her window the air smelled sweet, the thunderstorm of the night before had drenched the dry land leaving it dewy and fragrant .
She staggered slowly downstairs in search of coffee, trying to shake off the chasm of disappointment that she felt. In the morning light, last night seemed like a far away dream; in some parts tragically horrible, yet with moments that each reached a pinnacle of bliss that she’d never known would be possible. It was her recollection of those moments that made this morning’s dawn truly feel like the start of something new, as if her world had altered drastically in the night, and would never go back again .
She needed to find Sebastian. She was devastated by her father’s death, and Sebastian’s role in it, but she acknowledged it was an accident. She had been told the stories of the Tanana tribes as a child, and ironically, back then she imagined that her father was one of the brave shape shifting wolves .
She had looked for magic everywhere when she was little, believed there were fairies in the garden, flitting about from flower to flower, she thought all of nature’s creatures were mystical. Now as an adult realizing that her childhood fantasies were real, she didn’t want to turn her back on them. She knew that she could get on a plane back to New York, apologise to Jimmy and live the life that lay waiting for her. But Leslie-Anne’s word’s echoed in her head – she would die on the inside .
On that thought, a sense of urgency grew within her, half afraid that Sebastian had already slipped away, gone while the scent of him still enveloped her body. She gulped her coffee down and rushed upstairs to shower and dress. She didn’t know where to start looking, but Logan seemed like the logical first port of call .
She flung on jeans and a t-shirt, leaving her hair damp. Rushing back downstairs, her heart started thumping wildly in her chest, excitement and anxiety building. Busting through the front door she blinked in the bright sun, and then came to a standstill. There was a wolf waiting for her in the front garden .
The hair she had thought last night was jet black, was a rich dark brown in the sunlight. She recognized his eyes, the same luminous white and blue that she had seen last night. He had been sitting, but now moved up onto all fours as she approached .
“Sebastian ?”
Eva. His voice echoed through her head, as clearly as if he were speaking out loud. It was soft and caressing, with the faintest sound of a throaty purr beneath it .
As she stood and stared at him, she got the feeling that he had waited here all night for her, and the realisation made her heart felt like it was being torn in two .
“Sebastian – I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have sent you away .”
Don’t apologise. I’m who should be sorry. Forgive me Eva .
“It was an accident. I’m ashamed at how my father behaved – it shouldn’t have happened that way.” She tentatively edged closer; his wolf form alienated and excited her at the same time. She longed to reach and stroke his thick fur .
It doesn’t matter anymore. Eva, you need to leave here – go and live your life. You can do anything you want to .
“Why does everyone insist on sending me away? Sebastian, I want to be here. With you. What you said last night…I feel the same way. I want to be with you, I feel like we’ve wasted years – and I want to start living my life .”
With a wolf? In this place? I can’t offer you anything, Eva. Sebastian was determined not to give in this time .
If a small slice of heaven was all he would experience in this lifetime, then that would be enough. It was best this way. He knew he had already bonded with her, that she was his crow mate, but that didn’t mean that he had license to ruin her life. He would set her free, let her fly .
“Yes with a wolf – with you. I like Beaver Creek, Sebastian. But I’m in love with you. So in love with you that there’s only one place that I ever want to be, and that’s wherever you are. Why do you think I keep coming back?” Her tone was passionate, but he could hear the pain that she was trying to cover, and he didn’t know if that pain was caused by feeling like she had to leave her old life behind, or if it came from fear that she couldn’t have this one .
“Sebastian” she continued, “I’m going to be a Harvard business school graduate, and you’re going to own a lumber business – we can transform this town, you don’t have to worry about my life – this is the one I want.” She hesitated then, as if she had run out of steam. “Unless you don’t…want that? Want me ?”
Sebastian lost any resolve he had been clinging to at her question. His frustration dissipated – if she wanted him, really wanted this, then there was nothing that would stop him taking her and spending the rest of his life making her smile the way she did last night .
Eva, I want you. More than you could ever imagine .
At that, she walked toward him slowly and then bent down gracefully in the soft grass to kneel in front of him. She started to stroke his fur, sending tremors throughout his body .
“I want you too – like this, wolf form or human form. I’ll take you anyway you come Sebastian Waverly .”
She guided him down with her into the grass, and buried her hands into his fur, curling up to him so that there wasn’t a
sliver of space between them. He shifted back into his human form, his body wrapped protectively around hers, keeping out the morning chill .
Slowly their bodies and heartbeats moved as one, and Eva and Sebastian spent the morning with the sun reflecting off of their sweat-glistened bodies as they basked in their newly expressed love .
The wolf and his crow .
THE END
Given to the vampires
STORY DESCRIPTION
S heltered, adored, virginal, Anna finds herself given in marriage to the one man who terrifies her above all others. A vampire .
S he has no choice .
H er father’s life depends on her fulfilling the agreement .
H er betrothed, however, already shares his life, his bed, and his eternity with another vampire. A male .
A nna is thrust into a world completely foreign to her, yet despite her fear, the two creatures ignite a lusty passion in her the likes of which she has never before known .
1
Dimitri
W hen you’ve lived as long as I have, there will have been times when you must make hard decisions. Decisions that seem, at the time, impossible. I’d believed at one time that eventually what was left of my humanity would disappear, and I’d be able to make these kinds of decisions coldly, without the emotions that made the dealings of humankind so messy .
It had been three hundred years that I’d been a vampire, and still I couldn’t shake those last vestiges of what it meant to be a human. For the most part, I could shake off the most inconvenient emotions. I could rely on all my experiences, all my memories, all my knowledge of human fallibility, and use it to rise above the chaos .
But now, in this moment, as I looked at the grey-haired man kneeling on the carpet in front of me, his shoulders trembling, I felt so many of those human emotions that we claimed to have conquered .
Anger .
Confusion .
Sorrow .
“How long have I known you, Anthony?” I demanded, my voice solid, ringing with anger .
His voice shook when he responded. He didn’t look up from the carpet. “Twenty years, Dimitri .”
The man standing behind him—a Germanic hulk of a man, with a thick neck and hands the size of my head—cuffed him across the back of his head. “You use respect when you speak to him!” he snapped in his thick accent .
Frederick, my enforcer .
“Twenty years, sir.” Anthony repeated, trying to steady his voice. It didn’t matter—I could feel his fear. I could taste it on my tongue, rancid and bitter like old sweat. Despite the fact that I’d fed only an hour ago, I could feel the desire for blood stirring. Somehow, it always tasted sweeter when they were afraid. It was hotter; it ran faster .
But this was no ordinary lackey who had made a mistake. This was a man I had considered my friend. And the mistake that he had made was terrible. For anyone else, it would be unforgiveable. So, what was I to do? I would have killed any other man, made an example of him. Let Frederick take him to do whatever it was he wished. But not Anthony. I couldn’t, and I cursed the lingering human emotion that made it so goddamn difficult .
He’d come to me, twenty years ago, broke and starving with a wife and a six-month-old daughter to care for. He’d begged me for any job, said that he would clean my toilets or cook my food, anything so that he could bring home money to his family. I’d believed his sincerity, and so I’d done better for him. I’d taken the failing tailor’s shop that he’d owned, and I’d invested in it, helped to make him successful. And in return, I used the shop as a front to launder money. It had been a mutually agreeable relationship, one built on trust and respect, and after many years, something very like friendship .
“Tell me, again, what happened, Anthony.” I needed to hear it again. I needed all of my anger .
“They came, asking for information. They threatened my wife, my daughter! How was I to know that they would kill him ?”
The “him” that Anthony spoke of was my second-closest friend. For two hundred years, a vampire named Raoul had been my closest friend, and for over half that, Bernard had been with us as well. We’d navigated the years together, the only constants in a world that could never remain the same for us. Immortality means, inevitably, losing some who you love—especially if you have a weakness for humans, as I do. I have never been able to resist the desire of humans, the way they are so desperate to live, because their lives are so short. And it has never been able to be helped that I would fall in love with some of them. Raoul, too, has been unable to resist the draw of them, here and there, over the centuries. But Bernard—Bernard was always ours alone. From the moment Raoul turned him, he loved only us. And now, because Anthony had been afraid, Bernard was dead. Killed by the lunatics who feared us, the dreaded organization that hunted us ruthlessly. I thought I had paid most of them off, but clearly there was some disciple that had thought himself too righteous to be bought .
Some member of the A.V.O. had discovered our operation, and threatened Anthony’s family. I could understand his terror, could sympathize with his instinct to protect them. But as a result, a man who had been my friend and sometimes lover was dead. I could feel my heart, old as it was, aching with grief. I could envision where Raoul was at this moment—probably sitting in front of the fire in our bedroom, maybe still as I had left him hours ago, holding the bloody jacket that had been brought to us. There was nothing left of Bernard to bury. Only that jacket. I envied Raoul his ability to fall apart. As our coven leader, I had no choice but to swallow my grief and instead do my duty, and make an example of Anthony .
I looked down at him. “Why didn’t you come to me, Anthony? Why didn’t you trust me to keep you safe?” That was the question that had been gnawing at me all night, since we’d received the news. He knew what I was, what Raoul was, what Bernard had been. Why hadn’t he trusted us to keep his family safe? I would have brought them into our home, protected from the A.V.O. by Frederick, the rest of my security detail, and the best technology modern times could offer .
He should have trusted me .
He was shaking his head, staring down at the carpet. “I was afraid, sir. Afraid to leave them for even a moment. Afraid that my call to you would be tracked. I was paralyzed by fear .”
He looked up at me then, his face pleading. “I know you must punish me for it. In trying to save my family, I’ve broken yours. I beg you, sir, don’t punish my family for my mistakes, please .”
I looked at him, trying to keep my face impassive. He believed I would kill him. His acceptance of it struck me, the way he knelt on the carpet without tears or pleading, only concern for his family. I knew that his death was what Raoul expected. It was what the others in my organization would expect. It would set the example that would prevent any of our other contacts from making this same mistake .
But the truth was, I didn’t want to. My head ached. I wanted to go back to the bedroom, gather Raoul into my arms, and grieve for Bernard. I didn’t want to preside over the death of another friend. But I had to make an example. I had to show that this sort of betrayal would not be tolerated .
I took a deep breath .
“You did this because you were afraid for your family, Anthony. I can understand that urge. But, as you said, your fear and lack of faith in me has broken apart my family. My relationship with Raoul and Bernard was always that of friends, but it was also more than that. You have, essentially, deprived me of a partner and a spouse .”
I saw no shock register on Anthony’s face. He’d known that Raoul and I were, for all intents and purposes, together. Clearly he’d suspected that of Bernard as well. I felt a sharp, piercing dart of anger .
“You have until now been a loyal friend, Anthony, and our business relationship has always been profitable to us both. I am willing to spare your life …”
“Sir!” Anthony gasped, gratitude suffusing his voice. I held up my hand .
“Under one condition .”
“
Anything , sir .”
I couldn’t help the way my mouth twisted, smirking as I looked down at him. He would regret that statement in a moment .
“You have a daughter, Anthony. In exchange for the partner you have deprived me of, you will give me your daughter as my wife. In exchange, I will let you have your life and return to your family, and our business relationship will continue as it did before .”
His face looked stricken, much as I imagined mine must have when we’d received the news of Bernard’s death. Much the way Raoul’s had still looked when I’d left him sobbing in our room. I felt a moment of vengeful gratification .
“Sir, please!” he gasped. “Don’t punish my family for this !”
“Are you implying marriage to me is a punishment for your daughter? Do you think I would hurt her? Force her against her will? Provide anything for her but the most luxurious existence ?”
“You’re taking her from me !”
“You took Bernard!” I thundered, my voice tight with rage. “You will still be able to see your daughter, Anthony, speak to her, spend holidays with her. If I truly wanted to take your daughter from you, I would make you watch as Frederick snapped her neck! But I only ask that you replace what you have taken from me. I am asking very little, I think .”
“She doesn’t love you .”
“That is something I am prepared to deal with .”
I could see that Anthony was fighting to hold back tears. He hadn’t cried for himself, but he was crying for his daughter. It touched me, but I was resolute .
Wolf Detective (She-Shifters of Hell's Corner Book 2) Page 36