by Eve Newton
“You are dead if I suddenly find myself on a plane back to England,” I spit in Jacob’s face. I realize the absurdity of my words and so does he when he smirks at me.
“I have no idea why you would suddenly find yourself on a plane back to England, sweetheart, but it won’t have anything to do with me.”
“Fine,” I growl at him and let him go.
I let Simon take me cautiously by my proffered elbow and allow him to lead me out of the dining room.
“Ember,” he says with a sigh. “Not everyone is out to get you.”
“You don’t know that,” I counter with a sniff.
“And furthermore, your ego needs to take a hit now and again. I love you, babe, but you aren’t as infamous as you seem to think you are. Especially to a bunch of witches and warlocks,” he adds with a smile.
I curl my lip at him. Asshole. “And you aren’t as hot as you seem to think you are,” I remark.
He laughs at me as we walk into the kitchen. “Oh, I am, make no mistake about that.”
“Now whose ego needs to be brought down a notch?” I say with my arms crossed, so that he can’t touch me again.
“Jacob is all right, for a warlock,” he says, ignoring my barb. “He is just here for Sasha, that’s it.”
“Humph,” I grumble and take the blood he has just passed me to warm up in the microwave. “Go back to your little friends. I need to be alone.”
“You always do,” he says quietly, but leaves me nonetheless.
I wander outside to the pool area, sipping my blood pensively. Maybe he’s right. Maybe my paranoia knows no bounds. Either way, I know I need to get out of here as soon as I can.
I scrunch my eyes up and will myself to have a vision of her that will give me a location.
Nothing. All I have done is increase my headache from an eight to a ten.
I sit on a sun lounger and then look up as I hear a noise.
“Just me,” Jacob says, with his hands held up above his head in surrender, a broad grin on his face.
“Sorry about before,” I mumble, looking away. “There’s just stuff…”
“I get ‘stuff’,” he says easily and sits next to me. “No more said.”
I throw him a grateful smile and he gives me a curious look back. I can tell he is intrigued by my sudden turnaround, but I know that you catch more flies with honey and all that. Plus, he is really hot and I am really in need of a good fuck. It’s been way too long. The fact that it’ll piss Simon off is just a bonus. I place my empty glass down on the slate table and give him my most seductive look. His eyebrows skyrocket and he licks his lips nervously.
“Thanks,” I say, scooting closer to him. “Most men wouldn’t be so easy-going about a woman attacking them so viciously.”
Jacob grins at me again. “I like strong women,” he says quietly, and curls a wayward lock of hair around my ear. “Besides, I feel there is more to your story than just Simon’s sire. I’m interested in you.”
“Hm,” I say, noncommittal, my eyes focused on his lips.
I trace my fingers lightly up his thigh, as I bring my eyes back up to his. They are hooded with desire and it spurs me on.
“Don’t worry, I won’t bite,” I say, before I crawl onto his lap.
“Ember,” he starts, as I grind myself down on him. He groans loudly and places his hands on my ass, moving me so that I rub him harder. “I don’t know what this is,” he says, “but I won’t say no.”
I didn’t think he would. Not many men can resist me when I turn on my allure. I focus on his eyes, as my hand goes in between us to unzip his jeans. He is going commando, so my hand touches him instantly.
“Mm,” I moan in his ear, as I wrap my hand around his impressive cock.
“You’re gorgeous,” Jacob says to me, turning into me so that our lips are millimeters apart. I just give him a small smile and continue to jerk him off. I want him as hard and as ready as he can possibly be for me. He leans forward to kiss me, but I turn my head slightly. I am not interested in a romantic liaison. I just want a good, quick fuck. I stand up and shimmy my panties down, dropping them to the floor. His eyes never leave mine as I climb back onto him.
“Let me taste you,” he croaks out, as his hand goes underneath my dress.
“Uh-uh,” I mutter as I let him touch me lightly.
He flicks his fingers over my pussy and finds my clit. I am already wet and his fingers glide over me with ease. I let him tease me for a few moments, but I am here for one reason only. I rise up over him and place him at my entrance.
His hands go back to my ass as I forcefully lower myself onto him. He lets out a loud moan that mixes with my soft one. I grip the back of his neck and then I ride him hard. I keep my eyes on his and I see no sign of guilt or deception or recognition or betrayal. Just a man in lust with a woman. He is either damn good, or he truly has no idea who I am.
“Ember,” he breathes, as I continue to slam myself down on him. “Let me take over.”
“No,” I say and tighten my grip with my thighs. I ignore his pounding heart and the urge to bite him. All I want from him is a release.
Seconds later, I get it. I clench around him, panting heavily.
“Fuck,” he cries, as my orgasm goes far beyond a regular one, my pussy throbbing around him again and again. “Jesus. Fuck.”
He grabs hold of me tighter as I pump up and down on him, wanting him to finish quickly now so that I can get off him and stop touching him. He lets go with a loud grunt and a satisfied smile.
“I’ve never fucked a vampire before,” he pants.
“And I have never fucked a warlock before, and I never will again,” I say with a sassy smile as I climb off him and bend to pick my panties up.
“Wait,” he says, as I walk away. “Ember, I want to see you again.”
“I don’t do seconds,” I answer him, not bothering to turn back.
“We’ll see!” he calls after me. “You won’t be able to resist coming back for another go.”
“What makes you say that?” I ask, curious enough to stop.
“That was no ordinary orgasm,” he says, standing up and doing his pants up. “I got you off good, baby.”
I stifle my snort of laughter. “Yeah, you did. But don’t flatter yourself, stud. It’s been a while. I needed it.”
“I can wait,” he says.
“I hope you’re immortal then, because it’s going to be a long wait,” I reply.
“That’s not a no,” he says smartly and I roll my eyes at him. I stalk off, giving him a little wave, which he returns with that charming smile.
I feel good. Damn good.
Now all I need is that fucking vision.
***
I saunter through the sitting room, panties still in my hand, and head towards the stairs. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Simon giving me a narrow-eyed glare from over by the dining room. I wouldn’t have put it past him to have watched us, but even if he hadn’t, he would have heard us going at it with his keen vampire hearing. He is pissed and it amuses me. I will give him what he wants before I leave here. He deserves it for helping me and not asking too many questions. But, I’ll make him stew first.
My wicked mood makes me feel hopeful for the future and when I escape back to my bedroom, I have a genuine smile on my face.
It gets wiped off pretty damn quickly though when a searing pain shoots through my head, temple to temple. I stifle my cry of pain and clutch my hand to my head, as my eyes go blurry. I am getting a vision right here, right now. They usually occur while I am sleeping and they are never quite so brutal as this one. I drop to my knees, panting with the effort of fighting off the growing nausea. Another roar of pain rips through my head and I face-plant straight into the carpet, drooling like an idiot.
I try to concentrate on what is being shown to me.
It is the usual flashes of fire and scorched earth, the massive army of Ambassadors marching their way towards us as we stand together to fight,
their special Swords of Judgment flashing brightly, waiting to cut us all down.
And then I see her.
She is turning around rapidly, her long, red hair swinging wildly around her. She is surrounded by a pack of wolves, but they mean no harm to her. I see my own hand outstretched for her, but she doesn’t come. She is trapped in the middle. Then I see the two of us, hands joined together with another, still unknown, being.
And then everything goes black.
***
I rouse myself sometime later. I am still lying in a drooling heap on the floor and I sit up suddenly, wiping my hand across my mouth.
Eurgh. The urge to vomit hits me hard.
I crawl on my hands and knees into the bathroom and haul myself to my feet, using the sink as leverage. Avoiding my reflection, I splash water on my face and rinse out my dry mouth. Then I hobble my stiff body back towards the bed. I must look like some kind of zombie stumbling around blindly, but I don’t care.
Bed.
Now.
I take the few precious seconds to strip my dress off and toss it neatly on a nearby chair and then I flop into bed and curl up in the fetal position.
Dawn is still hours away, but I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. The room is spinning and I need it to stop so that I can think. But my thoughts are scattered and soon I am lost in a sea of images that I have to push away and, thankfully, sleep drags me under.
***
I awake several hours later. It is daylight out, but only just. My vision continued in my sleep and I saw something that interests me. I unfold my naked body from my curled up position and groan out loud. Simon is sitting on the bed next to me, watching me with a concerned look.
“What?” I croak at him.
“I was worried about you. You came upstairs and I didn’t see you again,” he replies.
“I’m fine,” I say, pushing my tangled mop of hair out of my face.
“You look a little green around the edges,” Simon says. “I guess screwing a warlock will do that to you.”
“Fuck off, Si,” I growl at him, really not in the mood for his pissy attitude right now. “What I do is none of your business.”
“You are in my home,” he says stiffly. “Courtesy, Ember.”
“Fine, next time I’ll ask your permission, shall I?” I snarl at him, wishing he would go away and leave me to sort through my vision flashes.
“At least ask if I want to join in,” he says with a slight twinkle in his eye.
“It was just a fuck.” I tell him what he wants to hear. “No big deal.” Which, while I have to say that is all it was, there is something about that man that intrigues me.
“Well, I won’t be inviting him back, if that’s what you are hoping,” he responds.
“So not,” I say and push him off the bed. “Go now and sleep. And be careful on your way back to your bedroom… I wouldn’t want your ass fried from all the bastard windows you have in this place.”
“Ah, she does care,” Simon says, putting his hand over his heart.
“Humph,” I mutter and turn my back to him and feign sleep so he will leave.
Thankfully he does and I creep out of bed. I need to wash the stink of warlock off me that is mixing in with the sweat from my vision. One thing has become clear to me, I think, as I make my way to the shower. My partner in this, or at least one of them, is a shifter, a wolf shifter, and not just any wolf.
“She leads them,” I mutter out loud.
Wolves live in packs and packs of shifter-wolves live all together in one big happy family unit. That thought makes me shudder. Not only am I alone because I am on the run, but because I am a loner by nature. I was happier as a child to sit in my room at home and read a book, than to make friends and have play dates. That was, of course, before dear, old dad decided to try and make me do his bidding. The thought of having all of those creatures crawling all over one another is a very unpleasant one. However, it does make this a bit easier. They would need a place big enough to house them all. A large compound of some sort. And I’d be willing to bet my last dollar that there aren’t too many of those around here.
I am pleased with my findings; grateful that something came out of the axe-in-the-head agony and following nausea, before I am once again struck down by what feels like a bolt of lightning all the way from Zeus himself.
“Christ,” I growl as I again find myself on my hands and knees.
I close my eyes tight against the pain and I feel a flash of fear, before I see the woman, Aria Heart, I now know she is called.
I give a rictus grin because this vision has told me what I want to know.
I know exactly where she is.
Chapter 5
~Aria~
“You’re sure?” Carter asks me down the line.
I kick the steel gate closed with a burst of wolf strength and stride through the courtyard of the compound. A twenty-foot-high chain link fence protects the ugly, two-story, concrete structure within. It’s a former prison. It’s perfect for our needs, though. We converted the cells into bedrooms for each member of the pack. There’s a huge mess hall where we all gather to eat. There’s even a surveillance room that was non-operational and offline when we first moved in six months ago, which we restored to full working order. It’s provided us with great surveillance capabilities and I use the PA system to issue daily commands to the entire pack. It’s been very useful.
And now all that’s gone.
After I left Tony’s place, I reached out to some of my other contacts and managed to find another safe house. A large log cabin hidden in the valley of the Cormon Mountains, a good couple of hundred miles from here. The terrain around there is difficult and treacherous. For humans. Not a problem for wolves, though.
Carter’s just called me to confirm they’ve reached the new location. He’s settling them in right now.
I won’t head there until tomorrow, though.
I had to come back here to calm the hell down.
After my confrontation with Tony, I need the alone time to quell the threat of the wolf rising to the surface again. So much for using him to take away the heat there. He screwed that up by challenging me.
“Aria?” Carter presses.
“Yeah?”
“I asked if you’re sure about Tony having eyes on you.”
“Of course, I’m sure.”
“Your senses are more finely attuned than any other wolf. How would you not sense his spies?”
I blow out a frustrated breath. Isn’t it obvious? “Magic. He must be using a witch to mask his wolves’ scents from me.”
“You think he’s followed the pack to our new location?” he asks, worriedly.
“No. I think he’s consistent with his fixations.”
“His obsession with you.”
“Yes. He has eyes on me, not the pack.”
“What happened tonight? Did he threaten you?”
“He tried to claim me.”
He hesitates down the line, which means he has something to say that he knows I won’t like.
“What? Just spit it out, Carter.”
“It’s just…you are unmated, despite your age. Any physical interaction with a male wolf at this point is…trying for said male. It will automatically awaken his instincts to claim, to mate.”
“Please. Tony isn’t a new wolf. He has self-control. He’s just choosing not to use it, because he wants power. Mating with me would give him that. These are just the actions of a megalomaniac, not from the desire to claim a mate.”
“Are you sure you’re okay staying alone at the compound tonight? If you’ve incurred his wrath—”
“He needs to worry that he’s incurred mine!” I growl.
This conversation is getting under my skin and I really don’t want to snap at Carter. He’s not only my second-in-command, he’s the closest thing I have to an actual friend. He’s had my back since my father’s death six months ago.
“I’ll be fine,” I force mysel
f to say, as softly as I can manage. “Worry about settling in the pack. I’ll see you soon.”
We hang up and I pocket my phone as I reach the door of the compound. It’s a huge titanium thing, intimidating to unwelcome visitors. I punch in the eight-digit access code on the keypad. It emits a high-pitched beep that my wolf hearing cringes at and it screeches open slowly, one inch at a time. I step inside and it closes behind me, locking itself automatically.
All this talk of mating and male wolves’ expectations has me pissed off.
I know that it’s the way Carter has been raised and he’s only telling me what he knows to be true.
But it’s not my truth.
Unfortunately, it is the way that all wolves see things.
Alpha wolves are almost always male. Female wolves are little more than arm candy and a means to bear children. It’s been that way through the ages.
At twenty-five, I’m considered way beyond the acceptable age of being mated. The average female wolf is mated when she reaches the age of maturity. Eighteen. So, me still being single at my age is frowned upon and considered bad practice.
It’s archaic, is what it is.
Wolf law claims that the ‘rule’ is for the good of a pack. Weaker females must be mated with the supposedly stronger males as a means of protection and to also begin spawning baby wolves to continue on the bloodline.
Screw that bullshit to hell and back.
I’m no ordinary wolf.
I am stronger than any other wolf in existence.
My father purposely kept me away from male wolves when I reached the age of maturity. He went to great lengths. He knew I wasn’t a normal wolf. He even warned me that the likelihood of a male wolf being able to survive the mating ritual with a wolf as powerful as me was very slim. It could very well kill them. He raised me to believe in my own strength and power, always telling me that I didn’t need a male wolf to make me stronger like the other females did. I was different. A leader in my own right. An Alpha beyond any that had ever come before.