by Emma Dawn
He was still making sure I was okay.
I lifted my hips and tightened my inner muscles with each powerful thrust of his body, fast and faster. I could feel him coming, on the edge of it, trying to hold back.
I pulled his head down to mine and bit the edge of his ear. “Come for me, Celt.”
With a holler, he lost the last edge of control, and gave a final thrust before he collapsed onto me. His whole body trembled and shook, and I held him to me, stroking a hand through his hair.
“Celt?”
“Hmm.” There was no movement from him, though his chest rose and fell.
“Just making sure I didn’t kill you,” I said.
His chest shook with laughter. “Damn it. I hate it when King is right.”
He pushed himself up over top of me, kissed me and then shook his head. “I will have to redeem myself.”
“What do you mean?” I sat up and gave him a solid frown. “What was wrong with that?”
“I came, and you didn’t. I will never hear the end of it from the others now.”
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I won’t tell them. Besides, that was far from a poor performance. I like it rough and hard sometimes. All this being careful is nice but,” I shrugged, “as I keep trying to remind the others, I’m no virgin. I know what I want and like. A slap on the ass and a bite on the back of the neck has its place too.”
His blue eyes were unaccountably serious. “No, you are no virgin.”
“That a bad thing?” I quirked an eyebrow at him.
He smiled. “No, I just...damn it. I don’t want you to get hurt, Allianna.”
I put my mouth against his shoulder. “I don’t either. Spartan will help me; maybe I can beat her.”
“She’s been fighting her whole life,” Celt said. He rubbed his head against my shoulder. “God, I do not like this at all.”
We lay there, clinging to each other, fear wrapping around us. I wanted to stay there and believe everything would be okay. But I knew the truth. It was not going to be okay, not if I didn’t find a way to get out of here. There was no way I could beat the queen, which meant I had to put distance between me and these men who were working their individual ways into my heart.
Not love, I reminded myself, but still, I cared for them. That, I thought, was almost as dangerous as if I did love them.
“Spartan will be here soon,” I whispered against his skin. “I need to find some clothes for fighting.”
“Ah, lassie,” he kissed me again, “heart of a lion in you, me thinks. I’ll find you some clothes, you clean up.”
I stood and he swatted my ass cheek, the sound and tingling from his hand stopping me in place. I had to clamp my legs together to keep from dropping right there and taking him skin on skin again.
“Does me heart good to see you like it a bit rough. Nothing wrong with a slap and tickle now and then.” He bit my ass then and jumped forward. I spun and glared at him.
“Next time, you’re going to be the one getting a spank.” I pointed a finger at him. He grinned back at me.
“I’ll count on it, lass.”
Once more, I stepped into the bathroom. I washed up in record speed, knowing I would get clean again after my training with Spartan.
I toweled off and opened the door to the bedroom. Celt was dressed and he held up a skin-tight black tank top and what looked like black leggings.
“Very cat burglary,” I said, taking the leggings from him first. “Think you can find me a bra?”
“What, and contain those beautiful, wild creatures?” He cupped a hand around my breast and gave it a gentle squeeze.
I fought the tightening of lust between my legs. I stepped back, my eyes on him. “You keep doing that and neither of us will be going anywhere.”
His eyes narrowed. “Maybe that be a better plan than working with Spartan?”
I closed my eyes, doing my best to block him out. “I am going to do all I can to keep us alive, so I can fuck you whenever I want for the rest of my life.” I opened my eyes, and Celt was right in front of me.
There may have been a glimmer of tears in his baby blues. “Yes, heart of a lion. If anyone can take the bitch queen down, I believe it will be you.”
His faith in me, his words lifted me as nothing else could have. Not a kiss, not a touch, but a true and honestly spoken belief.
“Thank you.” I leaned up and kissed him. “Now help me find a bra.”
We pulled apart, and moments later he tossed me a black lacey bra. Once more, all the clothing fit me perfectly.
“How is it possible that this fits me?” I slid the top on. “You boys been watching me?”
Celt shook his head. “These are Lily’s clothes. The only possible mate we could ever have would be made after her form.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Good, bad. Or just plain unsettled.
He stood at the door. “Wait for Spartan. He’ll be here for you, lass. Don’t leave the room without him.”
I lifted a hand to wave, and just like that he was gone, and I was alone. I counted to sixty, though my heart was beating so fast I was sure it had been less than a minute.
The miniscule plan I had was not a very good one, but it was pretty much all I could come up with considering most of the blood in my body was circulating away from my brain the last couple of days.
In the room with the caged wolf there had been multiple weapons scattered around the floor. Not that I thought I would truly be able to fight my way out of here, but the reality was without a weapon, I was dead in the water. With a weapon, I at least had a chance. Spartan had said vampires could be killed just like any human. I only needed one clean shot.
Right, like I was one of my rip-snorting heroines come to life? Maybe I was delusional. Still, my plan didn’t change, despite whatever doubts I had.
I went to the door of the room and opened it, peering out down the hallway to either side. No one was coming yet. I had maybe half an hour at best.
I hurried to the left, running as quickly as I dared in my soft-soled boots that Celt had laced up to my knees for me.
Down the stairs I went, almost tripping over my feet I was moving so fast. At the bottom of the stairs, I twisted to the left and followed the narrow halls until once more I stood outside the wolf’s cage. I pushed the door open.
“It’s me.” Oh, what an idiot I was. Like the wolf would know who ‘it’s me’ was. I drew a breath, instantly regretted it as the smell of the room hit my tongue, and pushed the door open wide.
The rattle of chains drew my eyes to the back of the room. “I’m going to try and escape, and I think that it would be best if you tried to go at the same time. Because if there is total chaos we will both have a chance.” I rattled off the words, unable to slow them for fear the wolf would have changed its mind about not killing me. Or that Spartan was already looking for me.
As it was, I kept myself in the doorway and what I hoped was out of reach of the wolf. Of Spartan, I had no plan of dealing with him if he found me.
The hulking figure of the wolf crept forward until I could see it in the dull light of the hall. The eyes were that dark brown that on any dog would have been sweet and doe-eyed. I swallowed hard. “I’m thinking if I took your chain off, you’d be able to get away when the time comes?”
A whine slipped from its throat and it lay on the floor, rolled to its back and totally exposed its—make that his—belly to me. Steeling my spine, I took a step forward, and then another and another. The chain was clinched around his throat like a pinch collar. Every time he pulled, the interior of the collar tightened, and the dull spikes put pressure on his throat, essentially strangling him. I rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Hang on. I’ll get this off.”
I worked my hands through his thick fur, trying to find the opening of the latch. A very small part of me reminded me that I was being foolish, maybe even dangerously stupid. The rest of me reminded me that I couldn’t very well
leave this wolf here, not when I might die before I could free him for real. No one deserved to die locked away in a dungeon of filth.
What if he deserves to be here, what if he killed someone?
The thought bounced around my brain as my fingers finally found the latch and I flicked it open. Too late now to go back, to change my mind.
The sharp spikes had dug into his flesh under the fur, embedding themselves. “I’m sorry, this may hurt.” I peeled the collar off, wincing as I did with the way it suctioned off him. The wolf never moved from where he lay on his back, though I did see a tremor run through his body.
I tossed the collar to the side, and the clatter of the iron on the stone walls seemed to fill the small space. The wolf stayed there, though, just lying flat on his back.
“Wolf?”
He rolled to his side and as he rolled, his body...contorted, shifting until it was no wolf standing in front of me but a buck-naked man. I stumbled back a few steps out of shock more than anything else. Not like I hadn’t seen my share of naked men lately, and his body was as fine as any of them.
His face was unlined, and I would have placed him around my age or even younger if not for the bright gray of his hair that was shorn close to his head. Those brown eyes swept over me as he frowned. “Who are you that you would defy Terra?”
I looked over my shoulder. “I don’t have much time. My name is Ally, and...there’s a good chance I might die in the next couple of days. But I’m going to try and make a break for it in four days.”
He nodded. “How will I know?”
A flash of inspiration hit me. “Do you know this place at all, like can you find your way around the hive?”
His jaw tightened and flexed before he answered. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“The hospital, if you can get there, my friend Cassie will be waiting. She’ll be killed too if I die.”
He took a step closer. “You are going to face the queen then? You are one of the women to try and unseat her?”
I nodded. “That’s the plan, but I am no fighter, which means I’m pretty much walking to the gallows.”
He squinted his eyes. “But you are a thinker. And she’s dumb as a bag of rocks.”
I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing. “Yeah, I don’t like her much either.”
He held out his hand. “My name is Havoc. I am Alpha of the Windrun pack.”
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Havoc. Try not to scare Cassie. She’s a good person with a mean right hook.”
He shrugged. “I will do my best not to frighten her and avoid her fists.” I bent to pick up one of the weapons and he stopped me.
“No. They will recognize the weapons and know you were here with me. Go, I will slip up to the hospital when the small hours of the night come and the vampires feast.”
I swallowed hard. Shit, that was a part of the brothers’ lives I really had tried not to think on too much. They most certainly weren’t feeding on me, but that meant they were feeding on someone.
Havoc gave my shoulder a gentle push. “Go, Ally, and I will pray that you survive so we may escape together.” He ushered me out the door and shut it in my face. I turned and ran back the way I’d come. I may not have gotten a weapon, but I perhaps I’d found something even more valuable.
An ally for Ally.
Chapter Thirteen
I hit my bedroom door, breathless from the flat-out sprint. I hadn’t bothered to try and be stealthy on my way back. For all anyone knew, I was hurrying back to my room to get my time with one of the five men. I didn’t stop running until I was through the door, and leaning against it.
My eyes closed, I worked to slow my breathing.
“Allianna.”
A strangled squawk was all I managed as my eyes flew open to find Preacher there, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching me.
I bit my lower lip. “Hey.”
“You went outside the room again? Why?”
God, here it was. I either lied and he would know it because I was a damn shitty liar or I told the truth.
I hung my head but kept my distance. “I...I am trying to find a way to make sure we all survive, Preacher.” My voice caught on the words, the emotion as real and as raw as anything I’d ever felt. “I don’t want to tell you more than that. Can you trust me to keep this to myself, to try and save us all?”
He took a few steps and then his hands were cupping my face, tilting my head so I was looking into those deep blue eyes. All I could do was think of him, and how quickly I had come to care for him and the boys. Those were my thoughts and I clung to them desperately to keep him from seeing anything else inside my head.
“I trust you, but I fear for you too. The other vampires do not want to lose their queen, Allianna. She has gone to war with the wolves, and allowed our kind to attack them at will. Their blood is...it is a powerful drug to us, addictive in nature.” He made a face like he was embarrassed by the fact.
That sort of explained Havoc in the basement, though. Not only was he someone important but he tasted good, too. My writer brain went down that side path immediately. Someone important, held against his will for ransom while Queen Cunt did whatever she pleased to his pack. “Was it always like that? Fighting between them?”
Preacher shook his head. “No, they were our allies many years ago, before we lost Lily.” He motioned for me to open the door. “I’m to take you to Spartan for your training. He’ll bring you back here—”
“Can I go to your room after my training?”
He startled. “It’s very small and mostly full of books. I’m not sure—”
“I’d like to see it, to see a piece of your life.” Because I knew if I managed to escape, if I managed to get away, it would save them all, but I would never see any of them again. My throat tightened and I could barely swallow past the sudden lump. The thought that I would not laugh with them, would not hold them again, would not make love to them again. The pain pierced me, making it more than a little difficult to keep up with Preacher’s long legs.
Preacher either didn’t notice my distress, or chose not to comment. Ten minutes later, we were at the training ground.
Preacher turned and left me without a word. I couldn’t deny the hurt that caused, and for a moment, I thought he would come back, and tell me he’d noticed me being upset or that he didn’t mean to hurt me.
Less than a minute after he left, I realized what had happened.
I slapped a hand against my forehead. “You are a moron, Ally.”
Preacher could read my mind, and I’d been thinking about escaping, about getting away. He might even realize what I’d told Havoc, that I was trying to help him escape too.
Now Preacher knew. No wonder he’d been pissed with me.
My shoulders slumped as Spartan strode across the field to me. “Ally, you are late.”
“Not really a time limit on this, is there?” I snapped at him, my upset and irritation flooding me.
“Actually, there is, seeing as we are down to three and a half days before you face the queen.” He held out his hand to me, offering me a small knife.
I didn’t take it. “I thought you said hand to hand.”
“Yes, but this will make you more cautious, I think.” He frowned at me. “Have you been crying?”
I rubbed my hands over my face. “On the way here, I was thinking about escaping, and what it would mean, that I would never see any of you again, but at least you would all be alive.”
His eyebrows shot up. “That’s a bit more honest than I would have thought from you.”
A sigh slid from me. “Preacher brought me here. I’m sure he will tell all of you, and no doubt I’ll have a guard on my door from now on.”
“Escape is not possible,” Spartan said. “You’ll have no guard because you won’t be able to get away. Sorry to burst your little bubble.”
I frowned at him. “I’m smarter than I look.”
His lips twitched. “I’m sure you are.”
“I am an author, I’ll have you know. I’m quite sure I could come up with an escape plan better than anything you could come up with.” I poked a finger into his chest. “For all you know, I’ve already begun digging a tunnel out from my room. A tunnel I hide under one of those cheap-ass posters with a half-naked man on it.”
That earned me a full-bellied laugh from him.
Which only made me frown harder. “It’s not that funny.”
“Oh, Ally, it is. I was a strategist. I know how to set up troops, how to make an assassination look like a natural death. I know how to get out of the worst situations.”
Anger snapped through me at the condescending tone that all but dripped from his mouth. I’d show him.
“Yet, here you are, stuck with me in this situation where if I don’t do something, at least four of your brothers and myself will be dead before the week is out. Well done. Should I clap for you?”
Our eyes locked and it was not a sexy, come-hither look that either of us had. Anger and tension snapped between us. His hands clenched tightly and then he flicked the knife away, burying the blade into the soft turf of the field.
“Our session is done. Good luck with the queen.” Spartan brushed past me, shouldering me bodily out of the way.
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Thanks for nothing, asshole.” I stood, watching him go, my heart and mind racing.
He’d shown me the forms of how to defend myself. Just because he wasn’t with me didn’t mean I couldn’t practice. Because if I couldn’t get away, I was going to be in the fight for my life far sooner than I wanted.
I turned my back on him and settled into a balanced stance. I lifted my hands and began to work through the flowing forms of blocking and striking, over and over, until the sweat rolled down my face, the salt of it stinging my eyes. I didn’t stop, I didn’t slow. Unlike Spartan, I would do something with my last few days. I would fight to save us all.
Dumb-ass man and his dumb-ass pride.
I was so intent on the motions of the flow, of prepping myself for battle against a queen who would likely wipe the floor with me, that I didn’t see the figures creeping closer from the edges of the field.