“What do you think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got enough.” He stroked the side of her neck. “But if you’re offering …”
“Anytime,” she murmured, and closed her eyes when his fangs skated lightly over her skin. Hard to believe she had once thought such a thing repulsive.
She was sorry when he lifted his head. “I’ll never understand why that feels so amazing.”
“I can make it hurt if you want.”
“Are you always so gentle with your prey? Does it feel as good to them as it does to me?”
Gideon dragged his hand over his jaw. Women. They sure asked a lot of difficult questions.
Kay poked him in the side. “Well?”
“In the beginning, I took what I wanted any way I could get it. I didn’t worry about those I fed on, or what they were feeling. Later, as I got older, I guess you could say I refined my eating habits. I never thought of myself as being gentle, but …” He shrugged. “A lot of vampires get off on causing fear. I did, too, in the beginning. There’s a certain thrill in the hunt—you probably know what I mean—but eventually I learned it could be just as satisfying to seduce my prey as it was to scare the crap out of them.”
“Go on.”
“I don’t know if it feels the same to everyone, Kiya. All I know is it’s not the same for me. No one’s ever made me feel the way you do.”
His words filled her with a soft, radiant glow. A glow that quickly sparked to flame when he covered her mouth with his in a long, searing kiss that robbed her of every coherent thought save the burning desire to feel the weight of his body on hers.
He lifted his head, his dark eyes tinged with red, his smile revealing a hint of fang. “There’s no hurry, love,” he whispered. “We have until dawn.”
Her hands moved over him. “I can’t wait that long,” she replied breathlessly. “Gideon …”
“All right,” he said, positioning her body beneath his. “A quickie for now.”
“And later?” she asked, gasping with pleasure as their bodies became one.
He laughed softly. “I’ll surprise you.”
* * *
Chapter 40
After a late breakfast, Kay decided it was time to tackle a chore she had been putting off—packing up her mother’s things. She would have to go through her father’s things, too. Not only his personal effects, but pack business, as well. But that could wait for another day.
She paused outside her mother’s sitting room, her hand on the knob. Although her parents had shared a bedroom, her mother had insisted on turning the adjoining bedroom into her own private place. It was only fair, she’d once told Kay, since Russell claimed the den as his own. It had been years since Kay had been inside her mother’s room.
She took a deep breath, let it out in a long shuddering sigh, and opened the door.
The scent of her mother’s favorite perfume lingered in the air. Standing inside the doorway, Kay glanced around the room. A lovely Queen Anne desk and matching chair made of gleaming cherrywood stood before the window that overlooked the backyard. A small bookcase held her mother’s favorite books; a curio cabinet held a collection of Royal Doulton figurines. An old-fashioned record player and an iPod sat side by side on a small table beside an antique fainting couch. Another table held a number of framed photographs. All the pictures were of Kay and her mother, Kay and Mark, or the three of them together. There were no photos of her father.
Murmuring, “Oh, Mom,” Kay picked up a photo of herself and Mark. It had been taken in front of the fireplace one Christmas morning. Kay wore a red flannel nightgown and cradled a beautiful ballerina doll in her arms. Mark was strumming a guitar, a huge grin on his face. They had been so happy then, innocent, certain that life would only get better.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Kay replaced the photograph. She quickly folded up most of her mother’s clothes, then left the room to get some boxes.
She wished Gideon was there. She needed to see him, to be near him, even if he was asleep. But, ever cautious, he had refused to spend the day in the house. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. Hopefully, when this trouble with the Green Mountain Pack was over, they could have some kind of normal life together, she thought, and then laughed ruefully. There was no way for an Alpha werewolf and a three-hundred-year-old vampire to ever have a normal life, but she would take whatever she could get.
It was near sundown when Kay called the pack together. Briefly, she explained her plan. As expected, not everyone was thrilled at the idea of drinking vampire blood, even if it was just a little. Deciding a picture was worth a thousand words—or, in this case, a demonstration—she asked Brett to shift.
Murmurs ran around the room as several of those gathered thought she was kidding and others scoffed, saying it was impossible for Brett or any of them who weren’t Alphas to shift when the moon wasn’t full. When it wasn’t even fully dark outside.
“Brett.” Kay nodded in his direction.
There were gasps of surprise and exclamations of disbelief as Brett shifted, then glanced around the room with a wolfish grin.
Kay looked at Greta. “Wow, I’ve never seen him shift that fast before!”
“I know. Do you think a little vampire blood would enable me to shift faster, too?”
“I don’t know.” Kay smiled as she overheard the comments of those closest to her. “But I think the pack’s convinced it works.”
Tyler and a werewolf named Hatten Red Shirt, scheduled to patrol the outside of the fence line that night, were the first pack members to drink Gideon’s blood. The rest of the men came next, then went out two by two to take their places on the outside of the fence. It was decided that the women, who were even less thrilled about drinking Gideon’s blood than the men had been, would wait until the following night.
Kay paced the floor. The house seemed too quiet. Brett and Gideon had gone out with the men. Greta was in the kitchen, making coffee. Isaac was in the living room, playing a video game with one of his friends.
Needing someone to talk to, Kay went into the kitchen. “I hate waiting! How long do you think it’ll be before Rinaldi’s men make their move?”
Greta shrugged one shoulder. “These things are usually done in the wee hours of the morning, you know.”
“I know.” Kay tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “I should be out there.”
“If they need you, I’m sure they’ll send for you.”
“That’s not the point. I’m the Alpha now. My father wouldn’t be hiding out in the house.”
“You’re not ‘hiding out,’” Greta said. “You’re keeping an eye on the home place in case they decide to try and sneak in here.”
“Right.”
“The other women and kids are gathered in the clubhouse watching a movie. Do you want to go over there?”
“No, I don’t feel like a lot of company.” She huffed a sigh. “I wish I knew what was going on out there.”
Gideon moved quietly through the night, his feet making no sound as he followed the fence line, checking on the wolves who were lurking in the shadows.
He had circled the perimeter four times when he picked up the scent of a trio of Green Mountain Pack members stealthily approaching from the north.
A thought took him toward that end of the property. Brett was patrolling that section of the fence on the inside; Tyler and Hatten were hidden in the brush on the outside of the fence.
Gideon dissolved into mist, hovering near the branches of a tree. It would have been easy for him to take out the three intruders, but it wasn’t his fight. The Shadow Pack hadn’t asked for his help, only his blood. Coldhearted as that sounded, he knew this was something Kay’s pack needed to handle on their own. If the fight turned against them, then, for Kay’s sake, he would interfere.
As it turned out, they didn’t need his help. As soon as the intruders approached the fence, Brett shifted and vaulted over the wire.
>
Taken by surprise, the three men reeled backward.
Brett killed the first one.
On silent feet, Hatten ghosted up from behind and took out the second one, while Tyler finished off the third.
It was over in less than a minute.
Gideon assumed his own form as Brett shifted.
Brett and the other two men grinned at each other.
“All too easy,” Brett said, wiping his bloody hands on the dead man’s shirt.
Hatten nodded. “Wish I could have seen the looks on their faces when you shifted!”
“It was priceless,” Brett said, laughing. He clapped Gideon on the back. “Let’s go dump these bodies outside the Green Mountain compound and then go home.”
Kay had just poured herself a third cup of coffee when she heard Gideon’s voice in her mind, assuring her that the fight, short as it had been, was over and no one had been hurt.
Greta looked at her and frowned. “What are you grinning about?”
“It’s over! Our men are dumping the bodies outside the Green Mountain compound and then they’ll be home.”
“Brett?”
“He’s fine.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Greta sagged in her chair.
Kay nodded, her relief short-lived as she realized that they’d only won a battle, not the war.
Greta looked up, her expression suddenly grim. “It isn’t really over, is it?”
“No. It won’t truly be over until Rinaldi calls a truce. Or …”
“Or you defeat him,” Greta said, finishing Kay’s thought.
“Or he defeats me,” she said, and saw the truth of it in her aunt’s eyes.
Kay tried to put the thought out of her mind when Gideon, Brett, Tyler, and Hatten came into the kitchen, laughing and grinning and high-fiving each other.
“Where are the others?” Kay asked.
“I thought it best if we keep watch the rest of the night,” Brett said. “Hatten and Tyler and I will go out and relieve some of the others as soon as we clean up.”
“Good idea,” Greta remarked, noting the blood stains on their clothing.
Gideon sat at the table, listening as the men bragged about their kills. Greta poured coffee for everyone, including Gideon. She grinned sheepishly when he lifted one brow in amusement.
When Tyler and Hatten finished their coffee, they excused themselves and went to get cleaned up. Brett and Greta followed a few minutes later.
Gideon remained silent as he watched Kay rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher. She wiped off the counter and the stovetop, emptied the dregs from the coffeepot, and refilled it with fresh water.
“Kiya.”
“What?”
“Sit down.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously.
“Just come and sit down.”
She dried her hands, placed the dishtowel on the towel rack, then sat across from him, her hands tightly folded on the tabletop. “What?”
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”
“Nothing’s bothering me.”
“You can’t lie to me, Kiya.”
“Then why ask? Just read my mind.”
“You’ve got every right to be worried, and no one would blame you for being afraid. It’s not easy, making decisions that affect the lives of people you love, people you’re responsible for.”
“They could have been killed tonight. All of them. How could I ever face Greta again if Brett had been killed?”
“If your aunt was Alpha, she would have made the same decisions you did.”
“How do you know that? Did you read her mind?”
“No, I read Brett’s.”
“We need to end this now. I don’t want it to drag on, never knowing when Rudolfo will strike again. And now that we’ve killed three of his men, he’s going to want vengeance more than ever.”
Gideon shook his head. “Don’t even think about it.”
“It’s the only way to end it.”
“Dammit, Kiya, you can’t challenge Rinaldi! There’s no way you can beat him. He’s older than you are. He’s got years of experience. And he’s twice your size.”
“Have you got a better idea?”
“Just one,” he muttered. But she would never forgive him for it.
As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait long. Rudolfo Rinaldi sent a message to Kay the next night. The message was brief and to the point. Either she would fight him to the death on the night of the next full moon, or she would surrender leadership of the Shadow Pack to the Green Mountain Alpha.
Kay read the message three times. She told herself it was what she’d wanted, that if Rinaldi hadn’t contacted her, she would have contacted him before the night was out whether Gideon approved or not. But now, seeing the words in print, she knew she wasn’t ready to face Rudolfo in a battle to the death. She hadn’t planned it ahead of time when she defeated Victor. When she knew that her aunt’s life was in danger, instinct had taken over. She had been as surprised as everyone else that she had won the battle. But this, meeting Rudolfo at an appointed time … knowing only one of them would survive the fight … it was scary beyond words. She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t sure she would ever be ready. Gideon was right. She didn’t have the skill or the knowledge to defeat an Alpha werewolf.
“Kiya?”
She looked up to find Gideon watching her. Wordlessly, she handed him Rinaldi’s message.
He read it quickly, then crumpled it in his fist. “Looks like you’re about to get what you wanted,” he muttered.
She didn’t say anything, just looked at him, her eyes wide and scared, her face pale.
Muttering under his breath, Gideon drew her into his arms. He had been doing his best not to read her mind. She’d had him convinced that she was itching to take on Rinaldi, that she was confident she would win. But he didn’t have to read her thoughts to know she was terrified.
She melted against him, clinging to him as if his arms were the only things keeping her on her feet.
“You were right,” she whispered. “I can’t do this.”
“Does it have to be one-on-one?”
She nodded.
“I don’t suppose you’d consider just walking away.”
“I can’t. It would shame my father. It would shame my pack.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself afterward. I brought this on myself and now I’m honor-bound to see it through.”
Gideon brushed a kiss across the top of her head. “And I’m honor-bound to protect the woman I love, whether she likes it or not.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re my wife and I’m not about to stand by and watch you get torn apart by some werewolf on steroids.”
“Gideon …”
“There’s no use arguing with me, Kiya. We’ve got a few weeks until the full moon. There’s got to be a way to preserve your honor and your life.”
“I don’t know what it could be.”
Gideon grunted softly. Neither did he.
* * *
Chapter 41
The night after Kay received Rudolfo Rinaldi’s written challenge, Gideon shared his blood with all the female pack members. Kay found it amusing that, from the oldest woman to the youngest, they were all against drinking his blood until he took them in his arms. She fought down a hot rush of jealousy when several of them asked for seconds.
Later, Kay called a meeting of all the adult pack members. Once they were assembled, she read the challenge issued by the Green Mountain Alpha.
When she finished reading the missive, there were numerous responses, mostly from the men. Some thought Kay should surrender to Rinaldi. Others voiced the opinion that she should step aside and let Brett take over as Alpha, citing the fact that he was married to Greta, who shared the Alissano bloodline. A few thought they should all shift at midnight and attack the Green Mountain Pack.
Gideon had a few ideas of his own, but no one asked
for his opinion and he didn’t offer it. He remained where he was, one shoulder propped negligently against the doorjamb.
He had to admire Kay. He knew she was afraid of facing Rudolfo, but there was no sign of it now. She stood in front of the pack, head high, shoulders back, radiating self-confidence. Had it been up to him, he would have swept her into his arms and taken her far away from this place, never to return.
He listened intently as Kay dismissed all the ideas that were presented to her. In a clear, calm voice, she reminded all the men and women in the room that there was more to being Alpha than the ability to shift at will.
“Being Alpha isn’t something that can be assigned to another,” she said. “It’s something you’re either born with or you aren’t. We all know that Alphas are stronger, swifter, and usually larger than other members of the pack. They heal quicker. They live longer.”
Murmurs of agreement were heard here and there.
Brett moved up beside Kay when she finished speaking. “So, it looks like we’re stuck with you,” he said with a wry grin.
Laughter rippled through the pack, easing the tension.
Brett slipped his arm around Kay’s shoulders. “Personally, I can’t think of anyone more qualified to lead us, except maybe her husband.”
All eyes swung in Gideon’s direction.
“He’s stronger than twenty men, and swift as lightning,” Brett went on. “He heals overnight, he’s already lived a few hundred years. I imagine he’s picked up some wisdom along the way.”
Gideon shook his head. “Forget it.” He wasn’t cut out to play nursemaid to a pack of werewolves. Nor would he shame Kay by stealing her thunder. He had too much respect for her, both as his wife and the pack’s Alpha. But if the upcoming fight turned against her, he’d take Rinaldi out, and to hell with the consequences.
The meeting broke up shortly after Gideon’s refusal to take over as Alpha.
Later, when he was alone with Kay, he wasn’t quite sure what to say. Was she hurt by Brett’s suggestion that Gideon take over leadership of the pack? Insulted? Knowing how she felt about facing Rinaldi, he had to admire her courage.
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