by Hailey Storm
“What the fuck, Ava?” he grumbled when he finally stopped pacing. His liquid-gold eyes bored into me in a way they never had before. It was an intensity that scared me. “Why the hell would you want to kill yourself? Why would you even think that was an option?”
“You don’t understand, you don’t know what being around Cole was like.” Images of him feeding from me in front of the Coven and the Midnight wolves flickered through my mind. “Every time I thought I was getting close to being friends with one of he Coven members and create some sort of normal existence among them, he’d sink his teeth into me and remind me of my place. He’d remind everyone. I was beneath him. I was beneath them all. I was nothing besides trash.” My body shook as the words pushed past my lips. Tears pricked my eyes as I thought of how many times he’d fed from me like I was his personal blood bag.
“He used you as a Blood Slave?”
I nodded, but couldn’t bring myself to speak.
“That sick bastard.” Gabe reached for me. He pulled me against him and smoothed his warm hands along my back. I allowed myself to melt into him. “I’m so sorry, Ava. All of this is my fault.”
I forced enough distance between us so that I could look him in the eye. Sorrow and self-hatred reflected in his gaze. “Don’t. You have nothing to apologize for, this wasn’t your fault.”
“It is, though. If I hadn’t been so stubborn and I’d given into what I was supposed to do you never would have been taken. You never would have been Turned. You wouldn’t be thinking of killing yourself, and we wouldn’t be on the run.”
“I don’t blame you for any of that,” I insisted. “You could see through Cole. You didn’t like who he was and you didn’t want to serve him. I get that, better than anyone. I don’t blame you for walking away and denying him your protection.”
“But if I hadn’t, we might have had a life together. You might have been something else.”
The breath in my chest stilled. “Are you trying to tell me you planned to claim me?”
I’d always wanted to be claimed by Gabe, to be marked by him. It was another reason why Cole turned my stomach—he’d taken any chance of that ever happening away from me the day he Turned me.
Gabe erased the few inches remaining between us to brush his lips against mine. They were soft and warm, gentle and sweet. “Of course I was.”
My heart melted as images of us happy and together in the sunlight filled my head. Us running together in our wolf forms. Us having summer picnics filled with laughter. Images of us snuggled together on the couch after we put our kids to bed, drinking a glass of wine or having a beer as we talked about our day.
I’d wanted the white picket fence with him. I’d wanted it all.
My heart ached for what would never be now that I was a vampire and destined to walk among the dark shadows of night. More tears slipped down my cheeks as I continued to sweep my lips across his.
“I had plans for us to,” I whispered between kisses.
“What were they?”
I pressed my forehead against his and kept my eyes closed. “It doesn’t matter. Not now. None of them will ever come true.”
“You have to tell me what they are before you write them off. At least give me a shot at them.”
“I wanted to run with you as a wolf. I wanted picnics in the summer and late-night chats curled up on the couch in the winter. I wanted children.” A shaky breath pushed free from my lungs. “Most of all, I wanted to be happy.”
Gabe’s grip on me tightened. “That sounds amazing.”
“I know, and it breaks my heart that none of it will ever come true.”
“They can,” Gabe whispered as he wiped away my tears. “We can still do all of those things. Well, except for you running with me as a wolf. I think that’s out of the question. But everything else, it’s all doable, Ava, but only if you stay. If you decide to go through with this, if you decide to turn to ashes at sunrise then none of it can happen and you’ll let Cole when. Don’t let him break you, Ava. Please.”
“He already has,” I whispered.
“Then let me help you piece yourself back together.” His warm hands cupped my face. “We can have picnics in the summertime, just in the shade. We can have late-night chats curled up together on the couch in the winter every night. We can adopt kids. We can be happy. Dear God, Ava, we can be so fucking happy. You’ve got to give us a chance, though. You’ve got to give me a chance to make it happen. And you gotta keep going. You can’t give up.”
He pressed his lips against mine again. His tongue swept across the seam of my lips, begging for entrance into my mouth. When I allowed him the entrance he wanted, his tongue moved against mine in such an erotic way my knees grew week. Gabe’s fingers curled through my hair as he pressed my back against the exposed brick behind me. He held me there as though he was fearful I would leave his side. The thought had never crossed my mind. I was right where I’d always wanted to be—with him.
“Promise me, Ava. Promise me you won’t do something stupid and end all. Now that I’ve found you again I can’t lose you. I’m not strong enough to handle that type of pain twice in my life.”
Something inside of me shifted. My heart fluttered inside my chest and for the first time in my existence as a vampire I finally felt as though my body harbored a sense of warmth all on its own.
“I promise,” I whispered.
A slow smile twisted the corners of his lips as he exhaled a long breath. “Thank God,” he muttered before sweeping his lips across mine once more.
When he broke our kiss, he released his grip on me and bent to retrieve our bags. I watched as he hoisted them over his shoulder and then reached for my hand. I was seventeen again, filled with a girlish sense of giddiness as I stared into his icy eyes while waiting for his next move.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
He licked his lips. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then don’t freak out when I tell you what we’re going to do next,” he said as he brought my knuckles to his lips. I struggled to hide the fact that his words had my muscles tensing. “We’re going to let Cole come to us.”
“What?” He couldn’t be serious. Not after everything I’d just told him. Not after the sweet moment we’d just shared. “No.”
“You said you trusted me, now I need you to prove it. We have to let Cole find us. Running won’t do us any good. We have to turn ourselves over to him. I can’t give you the life you wish—the one you deserve—if we’re always on the run, Ava.”
“Cole will kill you. He’ll kill you in front of everyone in the Coven and everyone in the Midnight Pack to make a point. He’ll use your death as a reminder of how strong he is and that no one should ever defy him.” My body trembled as adrenaline spiked through my system. I couldn’t let him do this. It was suicide.
He lifted my chin so I was looking him in the eye. “All Cole cares about is having the upper hand. He wants to win. Plain and simple. If I go back to him, he’ll think it’s because I’m tired of running from him and what he wanted me to be. He’ll think he’s broken me, and bringing you along with me will be the cherry on top. He makes a game out of breaking people, we both know that.”
“Then why agree to go back? We’re free. Why can’t we just keep moving?”
“Because you deserve better.”
My breath hitched in my throat. I didn’t deserve better, not if it meant Gabe losing his freedom. I didn’t want him to sacrifice himself for me. “No, I won’t let you do this.”
“And I won’t let you turn yourself into ashes.” A crooked grin formed on his face. “Looks like we’ve come to a standstill.”
My mind raced with ways I could make him see the light. He needed to know what he wanted to do wasn’t a valid option. Nothing came to mind, though.
For a split-second turning to smoke and leaving him behind crossed my mind. I could find Cole on my own and give myself over to him before Gabe had a chanc
e. He would be safe. I couldn’t part from him though. Not even if it meant saving him.
I was selfish.
“Don’t even think about disappearing into that misty smoke shit you do, you better hold out and listen to my plan first. You did say you trusted me after all.”
“I did. I do, but…”
“There’s no doubt they’re hot on our trail. I give it another couple of minutes before they descend on us again. When they do, we’ll go willingly this time, okay? I have an offer to put on the table for Cole, one I don’t think he’ll be able to refuse.”
“What sort of offer?”
“I’ll take my place on his guard if he allows me to claim you.”
I shook my head. “No, I won’t let you do it. I won’t let you submit to his horrible ways. Not when I know it’s the last thing you wanted for yourself.”
“It’s not your choice,” he said as he tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. “I also want Cole to let you feed from him in front of the coven and the pack. It would reboot your status among them.”
“And what makes you think he’ll let me do that? What makes you think he’ll agree to any of your terms?”
“I’m the only wolf who’s ever denied a position on his guard. He wants me to come back, and it kills him that I refused him. I know his type.”
I knew what he was saying was true. I’d heard a million times how much Cole hated the fact that Gabe had denied his request. The guy thought he was a god. However, I was positive the plan Gabe was concocting wouldn’t work. I knew Cole better than he did. I knew how vindictive he was. While I was sure he would allow us both to come back, he would never allow Gabe to claim me and he damn sure would never allow me to feed from him. He would feed from me though—in front of Gabe daily. It would be part of his punishment for turning his back on what had been offered to him.
Again I would be nothing besides a Blood Slave, only this time I’d also be used as a form of the cruelest torture for Gabe.
I couldn’t let it happen.
Gabe couldn’t see the holes in his plan, but I could. He was overlooking how evil Cole could be. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but the sound of slow clapping echoed through the dark alley we were standing in and Cole’s tall figure stepped into view.
The time to run had come and gone. Now the only thing left to do was fight.
Chapter Seven
Gabe
Cole couldn’t have come at a better time. Ava was about to turn herself into smoke and disappear on my ass any second. Cole’s presence meant I would have a chance to see my plan through.
“Beautiful escape earlier,” Cole said. “I didn’t think you had it in you to take that beast as far as you did.”
“I’ll do it again too,” Ava insisted. “Don’t come any closer.”
Cole tossed his hands up in submission, as the smirk on his face widened. “Don’t do anything hasty now. You might hurt yourself trying again so soon. You have to give yourself time to recoup.”
“Speaking of recoup,” I snarled, hating the condescending way he talked down to her. “I have an offer to put on the table.”
Tex and April, along with two others I recognized from the pack but couldn’t remember their names, stepped into view behind Cole. My wolf growled, hating being cornered.
“An offer?” Cole’s eyes brightened. “And what might that be?”
“Gabe, don’t,” Ava pleaded. “Please. Don’t do this.”
I ignored her. It was in an effort to keep my mind on track.
“You won’t be happy,” she insisted. “We won’t be happy.”
But, we would. One day.
I’d find a way to make things work. Maybe Cole would be overturned one day or I’d talk the pack and a few members of the coven into rising up against him. Something would happen and Cole would no longer be a part of things. I knew it. Then Ava and I would be happy. We’d have the life she’d always dreamed. A slightly different version, but it would be enough. I would see to it.
“I’ll join the Midnight pack. I’ll become a guard,” I said. Cole’s stare fixated on me. I had his full, undivided attention exactly like I knew I would. “On one condition, you have to allow me to take Ava as my mate. You have to allow me to claim her.”
“Take her as your mate?” Cole repeated as he rubbed his chin. “And that’s all, you have no other desires?”
My heart thundered in my chest, because I knew my next words could be a deal breaker. “Only one, I want you to let Ava redeem herself. In front of the coven and the pack.”
“You know the only way she can do so is if I allow her to feed from me in front of them.”
I nodded and straightened my back. “It’s the only way I’ll agree to coming back, and we both know that’s what you want. I’m the only wolf who has ever denied a place on your guard, the only wolf who ever walked away. If you bring me back imagine how it will look to the others.” I sounded full of myself, but I was trying to add value to my offer.
Hopefully he would bite.
Cole folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. An intense moment passed before he spoke up. “Okay. You have a deal, but under one condition.”
“Name it.”
“If I allow Ava to feed from me, you must allow me to feed from you in front of the pack.” A sick smile twisted onto his face. Nausea rolled through my stomach. The only vampire I ever wanted to feed from me was Ava. “Like you said, you’re the only wolf who has ever denied a position on my guard, the only wolf who has ever walked away. I need to make an example out of you, Gabe.”
My body shook at the thought and my wolf howled his protest, but I found myself nodding in agreement. I wanted to be with Ava, and this was a way to do so.
“No, I won’t let you disgrace yourself,” Ava said. She squeezed my hand and rubbed her icy touch along my forearm. “I can’t.”
As much as I hated to, I released my grip on her and shrugged off her touch. This had to be done. There was no other way. “It’s not your decision. It’s mine.” I stepped forward, putting my face level with Cole’s and looking him in the eye. “Deal.”
“Well, all right then.” He placed a hand on my shoulder as we started to exit the alley.
A sour taste built in the back of my throat as I glanced over my shoulder at Ava. I extended a hand toward her, but she refused to take it. Her dark curls flew as she shook her head. Disappointment swirled through her violet eyes. I wondered how long it would be before I’d be able to make her understand I’d done this for us. This gave us a chance to still be together, even if it wasn’t in an ideal setting.
When I was five steps away from her something shifted across her face I’d never seen before—pure, undiluted hatred. My heart stilled in my chest and my wolf shrank back at the sight. This was an all-new side to her. Something I’d never witnessed before. Ava was dark, but she was never hateful.
Until now…
Darkness swirled around her, dimming her violet eyes and accentuating her vampire features. I’d seen a vampire succumb to bloodlust before, but this was something more. This was something darker.
Cole said something, but I couldn’t hear him. Ava was the only thing I could focus on. In a flash, she lunged from where she’d been standing and darted forward. Her arm extended and her fingers twisted into a claw. Instinct kicked in and I jumped out of her way. She wasn’t aiming for me though. She’d been aiming for Cole.
Her hand sunk deep into his back and when she pulled it free his heart rested in her palm. Red blood dripped to the white snow-covered asphalt as her battle cry belting past her lips faded into the night air. I stared at her, only able to see a monster. My Ava had disappeared. Seconds before Cole folded in on himself, his body turning to gray ash, she started to come back. The darkness left her eyes like a fog lifting and her body trembled. She stared at the bloodied heart in her hand as her chest heaved.
I stepped to her side and bent until our eyes were level. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Ever
ything is going to be all right.”
Cole’s heart fell to the asphalt with a loud thump that echoed through the alley. “I didn’t mean… I can’t believe I… What have I done…”
“You changed the dynamic of things, sweetheart,” Tex said. His voice cut through me like knives.
I’d forgotten him and the others stood a few feet away. My skin tingled as my wolf begged to be set free, thinking we would needed to protect ourselves.
“He wouldn’t stop,” Ava insisted. “You know that right? He wouldn’t have stopped. He would have fed from you in front of the other wolves repeatedly, just like he would feed from me in front of you and the other coven members. We both would’ve been his Blood Slaves. I couldn’t let it happen. I couldn’t.”
“I understand,” I whispered through clenched teeth as I tried to fight against my transformation. My wolf was pissed, he was on edge, and all he wanted was to protect Ava from the threat of the other wolves standing to my left.
“I for one think it’s about damn time someone took him out. I know it’s somethin’ we’ve all thought about,” Tex insisted as he lit a cigarette. A cloud of smoke puffed up around his face as his lips twisted into a crooked grin. “It had to be done by one of you vamps, though. It couldn’t be one of us, no matter how much we wished it could. Would have started a damn war. Since it was one of you, all it is is a power thing. Congratulations, sweetheart, you won.”
Ava shook her head. She was in shock. Her entire body trembled in my hands as her eyes darted from Tex to me. “What does that mean? What power thing? And a war, I’m not trying to start a war. I wasn’t.”
“Shh, that’s not what he’s trying to say. You took on the coven leader and you won,” I said, hoping to clarify what Tex had meant. “You’re in control of the coven now, Ava, you’re their new leader. Which also means you’re in control of the pack, the Midnight pack belongs to you now.”
Ava’s mouth fell open.
I smoothed my hands over her forearms. “You okay?”