He’s going to bite me! Anna’s voice finally started to work, and she struggled and screamed in his arms. Then she felt a sharp pain in her neck. A vampire is biting me! Anna could only scream in pain and fear as the vampire held her securely. She heard a scream of rage that reminded her of a wild animal snarl, then something hit them both hard. She felt herself falling, but she never hit the floor. Strong arms wrapped around her and Marcus’s face was over her. She glanced over and saw Derek tossing the vampire that had been biting her through the air. He hit the wall, causing the drywall to break inward. She turned her attention back to Marcus and saw fine hair had sprouted on his face and his teeth had elongated. His face had little resemblance to a human.
“Anna.” Marcus’s voice came out gravely, like rocks against steel. “Run, I will find you once it is safe.” He set her on her feet, and Anna stumbled toward the door.
Her office was full of wolves and vampires. The one that attacked her, Mortef, fought a massive wolf while other wolves attacked a few other men with the same red hued eyes. Derek was gone, but in his place was a massive wolf almost as tall as a person. Her usually quiet home was full of snarls from the wolves and screams from the vampires.
Anna watched Marcus lift a vampire. “You dare to try and take what is mine? Fucking bloodsucker.” He lifted his knee and slammed the vampire’s body down, snapping his spine. The sound reminded her of a dry branch snapping. Despite her dizziness, Anna attempted to stand to get out of the room. Whatever that vampire had planned, it wasn’t good. She was terrified he’d break away from the fighting and bite her again. The hallway tilted as she made her way toward the staircase. She clung to the railing as she made her way down. She went the wrong way at first and ended up in the kitchen. She stopped for a moment to look at her living room. The sounds of the fighting were faint now, and she wasn’t sure who would win. Either way, she felt the urgency to get away.
The hallway let out into the open area between her kitchen and living room. The heavy wooden door looked as if it had been kicked in and pieces of the doorframe splintered. She changed her mind and headed toward the front door, perhaps going down the main street would be safer than the alley.
Anna worried about getting to her car. As she held on to furniture as she passed, her vision would darken, then right itself, and the room kept tilting making her think she was falling. What is wrong with me? Her heart pounded as if she was running a marathon even though she was stumbling along in her living room.
“Anna, sweetheart, sit down. You’re bleeding.”
Anna thought about trying to hurry, but then the realization she recognized the voice hit her, and she turned to see Derek chasing her. Anna stumbled over her own feet, and Derek moved impossibly fast. He caught her before she hit the hardwood floor.
Derek set her on the couch and carefully looked her over for other injuries. His eyes were blazing a yellow hue. Despite his furious expression, his touch was gentle as he moved her hair aside to look at her bite wound. “Oh darlin’, what did those monsters do to you?”
Anna’s thoughts kept scattering, and all she could think of was that woman warning her she’d disappear now. “Derek, I promise to never tell anyone, just please don’t hurt me.”
Derek looked shocked for a moment and then recovered. He ripped off his shirt and pressed it to her neck. He forced her to meet his gaze. “Hurt you? Do you really think I would hurt you? Anna, we came to protect you. We’ve had enforcers guarding you, and we found out the vampire overlord, Mortef, wanted to mark you.”
“To mark me?” Anna wasn’t sure if it was the blood loss or the shock, but the room spun, and Derek looked like he was far away.
“Yes, he wanted to mark you as one of his slaves to get even with Marcus for kicking his nephew’s coven’s ass.”
“Aren’t you supposed to keep this all a secret?” Anna noticed a few more werewolves were wandering around her home now and the sounds of fighting had stopped. One werewolf bent over and grabbed a throw blanket and wrapped it around his waist.
Derek looked over at him. “Logan, Jonathan brought some clothing.”
“Good. I didn’t undress first when I saw the guards were not at their post. That was a fucking expensive pair of jeans.”
Derek shook his head. “What a baby.” He turned his attention back to Anna. “And yes, we keep all of this a secret.” Derek glanced away as the boy Anna had seen nearly killed walk into her living room carrying a pile of sweatpants. The werewolf, Logan, grabbed a pair and put them on. Derek sighed and turned his attention back to Anna. “Normally, anyway. But we both know that there isn’t a point anymore, don’t we, Anna?” Derek looked into her eyes, and she knew that he knew the truth, that she knew everything about them.
“Yes,” Anna said quietly. Part of her was excited about what this meant while another part feared what Derek would do to her now. He’d spent the night making love with her. Was he that much of a cold-hearted killer?
“Tell me something, Anna. Did you know what we were last week when you wanted us?”
Anna looked at her folded hands. She thought about lying to Derek and telling him no. Would he think less of her for pretending she thought they were two normal guys? How could she tell him how strong her feelings were about him and Marcus? With a deep sigh, Anna decided honesty was best now. “Yes, I did. I knew you were a werewolf. I watched you tear those men apart and kill them, but I wanted you so bad it hurt. I tried to write about it since that usually works, but it didn’t.”
“Those weren’t men we tore apart. They were vampires.” Derek swept the hair from her face, and while his eyes were still fierce, there was a gentleness there she’d remembered from their night together.
“What are you going to do with me?” Anna feared the answer, but she had to know what she faced now.
Derek cupped her chin. “We can’t leave you here. You know too much, and now Mortef has attacked you. You’ll come with us. It’s the best way we can protect you now, but honestly, that isn’t the only reason, darlin’.”
Anna felt her breath catch in her chest. She was afraid to breathe for a moment. Could he mean what she hoped he meant? She could ask him, but if he said no and dashed her hopes, it would crush her. She almost broke eye contact with him and changed the subject, but if she didn’t try, she’d never know. “Why else did you come here, Derek?”
Derek took her hands in his. “Because you are all I can think about. I thought if we had sex and were able to have you a few times I could move on with my life. But I can’t. I want you more than ever now, and to be honest, I can’t let you go now. If you say no, then I’m afraid I will follow you around like a pup. I’m yours forever.”
Anna felt her heart lighten and joy overwhelmed her for a moment. “I’m glad you came. I’ve never missed anyone like I’ve missed you and Marcus. I have no idea what I will say to my parents. They’re very religious.”
“Don’t worry about your family right now. For now, we need to worry about keeping you safe.”
Anna glanced down and saw that tattoo on his arm again. It reminded her of the night at the police station when she’d first seen it. “What is this tattoo for? I noticed a few of the others here have one, too.”
Derek glanced at his arm and back at Anna. “It’s the mark of an enforcer. Every enforcer has one, and it’s different for every pack.”
“Is it like a military thing?” she asked, unsure about why they’d all mark themselves like that.
“Sort of. Our sense of smell tells us if a supernatural is around, but packs all smell lycan. If there are a lot of us, it helps us to identify one another. It goes back to the days when werewolf packs fought one another.”
“You don’t fight anymore.”
“Not other werewolf packs. Occasionally we’ll fight a cat pride, but mostly it’s coyote packs and sometimes vampires. Rarely a sorcerer or a witch. They tend to fight each other, not us.”
“Witches and sorcerers?”
“Yes,
Anna.” Derek leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Welcome to our world. Be prepared for everything you thought you understood about the world to change.”
Marcus stomped down the hallway wearing sweatpants and a muscle shirt. Bite marks and scratches covered his arms. His face was menacing, and he looked as frightening as the night she’d first seen him.
“Fuckers messed up the enforcers I left here and had more ghouls show up. They broke Mortef out of here. I sent the remaining enforcers after him.” Marcus sat down on the other side of Anna and gently gripped her chin. He looked at her bite mark, and his eyes flared yellow. “I’ll kill him for this.”
Anna wanted to feel relief, but the dizziness grew too strong. “I don’t feel well.”
Marcus pulled her close to him and held her. “I know you don’t, sweetheart, and I am going to fix it. It won’t be easy for either of us, but it will keep you from turning into one of Mortef’s slave.”
“His slave?” Anna blinked wondering how a bite mark could turn her into a slave. All of this was so confusing, and it made her head spin, literally. She was dizzy, and her heart was pounding. Fear slammed into her because she realized she wasn’t just feeling afraid because of what she’d just experienced. She had that sense of doom she’d read about when something was dreadfully wrong. Anna clung to Marcus, and she felt Derek pressing into her. Marcus and Derek will keep me safe.
“Anna,” Marcus said softly. “You’re going to be fine. Mortef injected you with some vampire venom to make sure he could change you without killing you. I am going to fix it, though. You’re going to be fine.”
“Venom?” Anna asked. The room was spinning, and her stomach threatened to start heaving from the dizziness.
“Yeah. Mortef was going to drain most of your blood, then have you drink some of his, not enough to change you, but enough that you’d be dependent on him for the rest of your life. Since you wouldn’t have died and had enough of his blood to preserve your body, you’d need Mortef to keep you alive.”
Anna noticed all the other werewolves were gone now and someone had even closed her front door. “Am I going to turn into a vampire slave?”
“No, never,” Derek and Marcus both said as Marcus pulled her close to him. “You are ours.”
This made no sense, and she’d never read about vampire venom before. How could Marcus stop it? Was he some sort of vampire killer? “What are you going to do?”
Marcus leaned into her and kissed her. “I am going to take care of the vampire venom in your veins by adding my own. I got to you in time to counteract Mortef’s venom. Werewolves were made to protect humans from vampires. If we get to a human in time, we can counteract the venom, but it isn’t pleasant.”
Anna swallowed hard. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Marcus nodded his head with his lips pinched together tightly. “It’s not, Anna. I can make it better, but still, it won’t be comfortable. It’s the only way right now. Otherwise, you would just grow sicker until Mortef drained your blood and replaced it with his own.”
Anna’s heart pounded as she processed what Marcus told her. “Will it hurt?”
“I won’t lie to you, it might hurt. If I could mate you at the same time, it wouldn’t so much, but it’s not safe here to take the time for a mating bond to seal. I’ll do everything in my power to make it as comfortable for you.”
Anna shook her head. This didn’t sound good at all. Marcus made it sound like it would be torture. “What happens if I don’t do it? If I just leave things alone?”
Marcus’s brown eyes pinned her in place. “Then you will continue to get very sick, and fast. If it doesn’t kill you, you’ll wish it would. There will be a point of no return, Anna. We have to do this now. I know it sounds scary, but my way is far easier.”
Anna let out a whimper. This wasn’t fair, she never asked for any of this. She was just a normal person before the night that she saw too much.
Derek rubbed her shoulders. “I don’t mean to cut this meeting short, Alpha, but Anna’s running out of time.”
Marcus nodded. “It is time. I’m sorry, Anna, but if we wait it could kill you.”
Anna trembled as the glowing light in Marcus’s eyes grew brighter. It reminded her too much of what she’d witnessed, and the fight that went on here at her house. This was all too much, and Anna tried to push Derick away. Maybe they were lying to her, and she’d really be fine. She knew that wasn’t true the moment she thought it. Neither of them had any reason to lie to her. They could have easily taken what they wanted back in the woods or even at the club. They could have made her disappear, and no one would have known where to start looking, but they’d sent her back to her life. They had just rescued her from that vampire, but that didn’t stop her from struggling. “Wait, Marcus. I don’t want to.” Anna let out a scream. “I’m scared.”
Derek’s grip on her tightened. “My sweet Anna, it’s going to be okay. I have you. You’re fine. I won’t let go. I promise.”
Hair was growing on Marcus’s skin, and his teeth grew longer. He lifted his hand, and his fingers had grown claws that looked razor sharp. Even though he looked terrifying, his eyes were gentle. “You are ours, and I intend to mate with you once it’s safe. I refuse to allow you to kill yourself because you’re scared.” Marcus’s voice was deeper and gravely now. While he still appeared human, he’d grown hair and claws like a wolf.
“Let’s think about this. Maybe there’s another way—”
Anna didn’t get a chance to finish before Marcus cut her off. “Hold her, Derek. I don’t want her flesh torn if she’s going to fight.”
Anna froze as icy terror sliced through her. Tear my flesh? “Derek, please!” Anna screamed, hoping he would help her.
Derek’s arms wrapped around her and turned her head, exposing her neck. Anna felt completely powerless in Derek’s grip. She knew he was strong—he had to be to fight vampires and come out alive. She’d never realized how strong until now, when she was trying with all her strength to move, but he held her immobile as easily as she held a newborn puppy.
“Shh, Anna. It’s okay, I’ve got you. It will be over soon. This is the only way to keep you safe from Mortef.”
Anna thought maybe she was hyperventilating, but she couldn’t catch her breath. The room spun even more, and she felt like she was falling even though Derek was holding her firmly. She knew it wasn’t fear making her feel this way, it was the vampire bite. Marcus and Derek were right—she was growing worse. She relaxed with a frightened whimper and closed her eyes.
Soft fur caressed her skin, and she felt hot breath brush over her throat. She bit back a scream as she imagined a wolf over her, but when she cracked open her eyelids, she could make out Marcus’s human shape.
His heavy weight settled over her as she panted for breath, then needle sharp fangs pierced her skin. The pain sliced through her, making her breath come in short pants.
Marcus didn’t quickly bite her and let go, he settled over her with his fangs embedded in her flesh and it burned as if he’d stabbed her with hot irons instead of biting her. Anna tried to move, tried to get away from the burning pain, but Derek held her completely still. She got an arm under Marcus and tried to shove him off, but he was as immovable as a statue. “It burns! He’s burning me.”
“Oh baby, I’m so sorry.” Derek’s voice sounded like it was choked with emotion as he stroked her hair. “I’m going to kill that bloodsucker for this. He will die slowly and painfully for doing this to you.”
Anna opened her eyes, again expecting to see a wolf, but it was still Marcus. He still had the hair coating his body, and fangs, but he still looked like Marcus. The burning in her body eased, but a new heat grew, making her pussy throb. First, she felt like she’d been set on fire, but now her clit throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
Marcus let go of her throat and pulled away. His eyes were back to dark brown, and his skin was back to normal-looking human skin. The dizziness was gone, but Anna struggl
ed not to rock her hips, hoping she could relieve the ache in her sex.
Anna gazed into Marcus’s eyes, and she felt her heart warm. She felt closer to him than any other person.
“Marcus,” Derek said from behind her. “She’s out of danger now. We have to move. Mortef could come back and bring his coven.”
Anna glanced over her head at Derek, and she felt the same strong feelings for him. This was insane to want two men at once. Wanting sex was bad enough, but now she wanted more. She was falling in love with two werewolves. Rachel would love this if she could tell her.
“I know.” Marcus’s eyes seemed darker than usual. “Is the car ready?”
“Walter said he’d make sure it was before he joined in the hunt for Mortef and his ghouls.”
“Let’s go. If she feels the heat as badly as I do, we need to hurry. I don’t want our mate to suffer the heat for long.”
Anna grabbed on to her couch. “Wait! Go? What do you mean go? And what is heat?”
Marcus placed his hand on the side of her face. “We’re taking you back to our lycan pack lands. Fate wants us to mate. There was already a pull between us. Now that I’ve marked you, you are in heat and crave sex. It will be a long ride for all of us, but I am not taking you in the car like some adolescent pup.”
“What? No, Marcus, I can’t go with you, and I am not some cat that goes into heat.”
Marcus’s face came closer, and she could see the brown colors in his eyes. “No, sweetheart, you are no cat. You now have lycan genes in you.” He sniffed. “You are going into heat. I am afraid you have no choice but to come with us. You know about us, and you are immune to the compulsion to forget. Not many are fully immune as you are, but you do remember everything, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Anna said, nodding. There didn’t seem to be any reason to deny it anymore. “I remember everything, even the memories you tried to place in my head, but I know what was real and what wasn’t.”
Lycans Embrace [Southern Supernatural Alphas] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 10