by Cynthia Eden
Because so many of them wanted to be human.
Morgan had wanted that, too. Then she saw how easily the humans died.
Now she wanted to be strong. A fighter.
The vampires were falling too quickly to the demon horde. The wolves—they were lasting longer. Because they’re stronger now. If they were going to stop hell, then the vampires needed the wolves at their sides.
“Marry me…” Jace’s whisper.
She knew she’d do anything, but before she could speak, a hard thud shook the wall. Morgan jerked. “What is—”
He wrapped his hands around her shoulders and lifted her up so that she had to stare straight into her eyes. “Demons followed you here tonight.”
“No, that’s not possible, I was careful, I—”
“Now my pack is tearing them apart.”
If only. But, sadly, she’d discovered that it wasn’t simple to kill a demon. You had to sever its head, and cleaving through demon flesh wasn’t an easy task. While a demon’s flesh looked like a human’s, it was harder to penetrate than any armor she’d ever seen.
“Do I have your agreement? You will marry me right away?”
Why did she like the rumble of his voice so much? Morgan nodded.
Another thud shook the wall, and she was pretty sure she heard a scream.
Or two.
“Good.” A growl. Then the wolf did something she hadn’t expected. His mouth took hers.
Her lips had parted in surprise, and his tongue thrust inside her mouth.
He didn’t taste like a vampire or a like a human. She had experience with those types of men. But Jace…
He tasted wild. Hot.
Her arms curled around his neck as she pulled him closer.
A growl worked in his throat when she sucked his tongue. Oh, yes, she liked that.
Vampires had the wrong image. Cold, stiff. Unfeeling. She’d never been like that. She’d always wanted. Needed.
Maybe he can give me what I want.
Her nipples were hard, stabbing against his chest, and her sex began to moisten. Wolves weren’t easy lovers, or so the stories said. No quick tumble in the darkness for them.
Instead, sex that lasted for hours.
Hours.
The Council elder’s face had been sad when he’d said, “We hate for you to make this sacrifice…”
It didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice to her.
Just felt like white-hot lust.
Her fangs started to lengthen. What will his blood taste like?
She couldn’t wait to find out.
His hands were on her ass now, holding her up and against the hard bulge of his arousal. No missing that fierce length of flesh. The wolf was big all over.
Yes.
Very slowly, and only after he tasted her once more, Jace lifted his head and lowered her to the ground. “Didn’t expect that.”
She could still taste him.
“Guess vampires can feel more than hate for the wolves.”
Morgan pulled in a deep breath. “And I guess wolves can lust for the bloodsuckers they claim to despise.”
He stared down at her, and she realized she didn’t hear any muffled voices from the bar any longer. No more thuds. No screams.
His hand took hers and his palm felt red-hot against the mark on her flesh.
Wolves were so hot, when she’d known only the cold for so long.
“Come.”
Do it. Go. Don’t back down now. Just because she’d tasted the wolf and realized that controlling him might not be as easy as she’d planned, well, that didn’t mean she could run away.
He opened the door. The smell of blood hit her. But it wasn’t the normally sweet, tempting scent that called to her kind.
Rancid. Brimstone. Hell.
Demons.
Their bodies lay on the floor. Their heads had been severed, and their eyes—as red as the hell they’d escaped—stared straight up at her. Two demons down…
“How?” She breathed the word in surprise. The vamps had taken hours to kill demons, while the wolves had decapitated these two in mere minutes.
The wolf shifter that Jace had called Mike lifted his hand. His claws glinted. “We can slice through anything.” His gaze seemed to bore into her. “Anything.” The unmistakable threat was in his eyes.
That wolf would be a problem.
She might just have to kill him soon.
Jace caught her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.
But the killing would have to wait. Because, ah, first, she’d have to marry her alpha wolf.
Chapter Two
Morgan liked to bite. In fact, she was very good with her teeth.
But being bitten wasn’t so much her thing.
She stood in the middle of Howling Moon, congealing demon blood getting way too close to her boots, and knew that she’d have to offer her neck.
The wolves surrounded her. Jace held her hand in a deceptively light grip.
“This is Morgan LaBeaux.” Jace’s voice boomed out and every wolf there stilled. When an alpha talked, you damn well listened.
Morgan’s racing heartbeat filled her ears. He kept staring right at her as he said, “She’s my mate.”
“Oh, the fuck no!” The instant denial came from Mike. She’d expected that outburst.
What she hadn’t expected—
Jace tore away from her and in an instant, his claws sank into that wolf’s shoulder. “Oh, the fuck, yes,” he snarled right back. “And if you can’t accept her…” He yanked out his claws as Mike stumbled back.
Wolves are brutal. Another Council warning.
“If you can’t accept her,” Jace continued, “then get out of my pack.”
Pain broke rough lines on Mike’s face. “A vampire? You’re tying to a bloodsucker—”
Now she wanted to claw him. The wolves kept acting like Jace was the one trading down. Dude. Vampire princess.
She toed the dead demon’s body. The blood had reached her boots, and it wouldn’t be coming out of the leather. “They’ll destroy you.”
Now it was her voice that captured everyone’s attention.
Mike puffed out his bloody chest. “We did a good job of destroying them.”
Yes, they had. And she was impressed, but she wasn’t planning to show it. “You took out two…” Her gaze swept the room. “With twenty to two odds, I should hope you’d win the match.”
Jace lifted a brow and watched her.
She braced her legs and tried to look all kick-ass. “What are your plans when there are two thousand of them…and still just twenty of you?”
“Did that bitch just say two thousand?”
“Two damn thousand?”
Shock coated the faces of the shifters. Even Mike looked nervous.
Jace didn’t. He just kept watching her, and he kept his claws out.
“You’re being hunted,” she told them. “How many wolves have the demons taken out in the last few weeks?”
They didn’t answer, but she saw the swift glances that passed between the pack members.
“They’re also attacking us,” she said. “For once, the vampires and the werewolves share an enemy.” Now they were all focusing on her with narrowed eyes and tense faces. “If we don’t take these bastards out, believe me, they will destroy us. They’ve got the numbers on their side. They have the power…”
“So what?” Mike demanded. “An alliance?” He fired a fierce stare at Jace. “Is this just some truce ‘til we kick the ass of all—”
“It’s a mating,” Jace said, voice flat. “It’s forever.”
Until death. “A doorway opened between hell and earth, and the demons are slipping right through that door,” Morgan said. More of the hell spawn came through each day.
“So close the damn door!” Mike snapped.
Jace’s fingers stretched as if he were itching to plunge his claws back into the wolf. Maybe he was.
“We will,” Jace said simply. “The wolves and th
e vampires will send them back and close the door.”
They hadto work together. In order for that doorway to shut, they’d both need to bleed.
Only she’d be the one giving up the most blood.
And Jace would be the one to face hell.
Murmurs swept through the bar. The wolves finally seemed to realize just how serious this night was. A vampire wasn’t their prey. Instead, a vampire was becoming their alpha’s mate.
Jace came to her side again. When his hands—still tipped with those deadly claws—rose to her throat, Morgan didn’t flinch. He swept back her hair and his knuckles brushed over her skin.
The wolves closed in now, watching, and some—some were already shifting.
Mike swore and turned away. He stomped for the door.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jace’s voice, right at her ear. She felt the whisper of his breath on her flesh.
“I’m not.” Her own voice was just as soft as his.
His claws skated down her neck. “Liar.”
Wolf senses. Could he really smell her fear?
“Have you ever been bitten?” he asked.
So many eyes were on her. She’d known the bite would have to be in public. It was one of the pack rules. Claimings had to be public. Witnesses had to see the bite. Witnesses—just like in human marriage ceremonies.
Because that’s what a marking was…marriage. When a male wolf bit his female in front of the pack, he claimed her.
I can do this.
It would just help if her knees weren’t shaking.
She gave him the truth, “No.” No one had ever bitten her.
“Good.” Too much satisfaction purred in the one word.
“Don’t forget,” her voice was way too breathless. She wasn’t actually looking forward to this, was she? “I get my turn later.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Oh, damn.
She tilted her head, arching her neck even as she closed
her eyes. She wouldn’t look at the others as he did this. She would just close her eyes and pretend that—
That I’m not giving my life to a werewolf.
His lips touched her skin first. She’d expected the bite. The sharp sting of teeth. Werewolves were supposed to be wild.
No better than animals. That’s what the Council said, that’s what—
His tongue licked her skin, and Morgan lost her breath. Her breasts tightened even as her body tensed.
She didn’t open her eyes. Don’t want to see them.
He sucked her skin, licked her, but didn’t bite, not yet. His arms surrounded her, his body sheltered her, and he made her wait.
Worse, the bastard made her want.
Because her skin was too sensitive, his lips too wickedly skilled, and if a vampire had a sweet spot—okay, yes, they all did—it was the neck. Just a few licks there, and she was choking back a moan.
Then she felt the edge of his teeth on her skin.
“Do it,” she told him, desperate.
“You accept me?”
Morgan nodded.
“Say it, Morgan, I need the words. You have to say—”
“I accept you!”
His teeth sank into her. Not her neck, but the curve of her shoulder. The pain was white-hot, pulsing. Then pleasure whipped through her. A wave of pleasure so intense that she cried out and opened her eyes.
And saw a giant, white wolf leaping right at her.
Barely a bride, and already, the groom’s family was gunning for her.
Jace lifted his head at her cry and he roared, “Mike!” even as he shoved her back. Then her husband jumped into the air. His bones crunched, popped, and fur broke over his skin. The man vanished, and a giant black wolf attacked in mid-air.
Morgan touched her shoulder and felt the wet warmth of her blood. The skin ached, but she knew the flesh was already healing.
Vamp healing power.
The two wolves were a twisting, snarling mass. Claws flew, razor-sharp teeth snapped. Blood matted their fur, and their growls filled the air.
She lunged forward, but a hard hand wrapped around her arm.
“Easy, there, cher.” The man’s voice rolled with a Cajun accent she’d once heard during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. “Don’t go gettin’ between wolves. If Mike wants a challenge, then Jace will give him one…”
As she watched, the other wolves circled and howled. Jace tore into the white wolf. More blood. Her nose twitched at the smell.
Didn’t they know better than to fill a room with blood when a vampire was around?
Her teeth began to burn as they stretched in her mouth. What would it be like? To have that fresh, wolf blood? Would it truly be as powerful as the Council said?
Jace went for the white wolf’s throat. His powerful jaws caught the flesh, caught, held…
Mike sagged beneath him, the fight gone. Surrender.
Submission.
Jace tossed his head back. His howl filled the bar.
Then the black wolf turned and stared at her. His teeth were bloody. His eyes wild.
What have I done?
The Council was wrong. There was no way she’d ever be able to control him. The wolves were running around now, some human, some animal, and it was chaos.
Jace transformed as he approached. Fur melted. Bones shifted. By the time he reached for her, he was a man.
Even if his stare was still the wild gaze of the wolf. He came to her, caught her hand, and said, “Mine.”
She knew that it was too late to run.
***
Mike raced away from the bar even as Jace’s howl filled his ears.
Bastard. He’d hated that asshole for years and now Jace was pairing up with a vampire? Another reason to hate the SOB.
Mike had shifted, transforming in order to heal. Jace had sliced him too deep. Even now, the blood spilled down his neck.
“So sweet…”
The whisper had Mike slowing. His gaze swept the dark shadows. A row of broken buildings waited on the left. Empty. Faded.
His nostrils flared, and he scented…bloodsucker.
Mike slapped a hand over his throat, and he began to back away. Normally he wouldn’t run from a vamp, but…but he’d already gotten his ass handed to him once tonight. “Stay away from me!” He shouted.
Laughter floated in the air.
“No…” The voice was closer now. “I saw you…I watched it all.”
Mike spun around and came face-to-face with the vamp. Tall, as pale as the woman had been, but muscled.
And the vamp’s fangs were out.
“You were going to kill the female, weren’t you?”
Talk about being screwed. He should have known the bitch hadn’t come in alone.
“No.” He could be honest here. Maybe it would help his cause. “I was going to kill him.”
More laughter, and then the vampire closed in. Mike didn’t even have a chance to scream.
***
“This is…ah…your place?” Morgan paced in front of the fireplace. “It’s not quite what I was expecting.”
Jace pulled his gaze off her ass. The rush from the shift still fueled his body. No, not just from the shift. From her.
He had her taste now. Knew the feel of her body. Knew the sound of pleasure on her lips.
He wanted more.
“What did you expect?” His voice was rough. Always was. Like sandpaper when hers sounded like silk.
Morgan stopped her pacing. She slanted him a quick glance from beneath lowered lashes.
“A cage?” He tossed out.
Her small jaw tensed. “And I suppose you never once wondered if I slept in a coffin?”
He laughed. “No, princess, I know better.” She just needed to stay out of sunlight because the light made her weak, almost human. Not because it set her skin on fire. That was just a Hollywood myth.
“And I know better, too.” Her voice came even softer than before. She turned to stare at the heavy bookshelv
es that lined his walls. “But I did expect pin-up queens and at least one big screen TV.”
Yeah, well, they were all on the other side of the house. Jace shrugged. Then he took off his t-shirt.
Her gazed immediately dipped to his chest. Her hand lifted and rubbed the curve of her shoulder, the tasty spot he’d sampled less than an hour before.
He’d be sampling a whole lot more of her soon.
The fucking princess. He’d asked for her because, hell, yeah, he knew the power that she wielded in her blood. If he got enough of that vampire blood in him, he’d be near invincible.
He wanted that power. Would need it if he was going to stop the demons. But there was…more.
He’d wanted her. Had, for a very, very long time. The lady didn’t even know how long he’d been watching her.
“I remember the first time I saw you.” He hadn’t meant to say the words, but they broke from him. How many nights had his vampire princess haunted his dreams?
Her eyes widened. “Wh-what?” There it was again. That small stutter. The hesitation he hadn’t expected from her. He’d thought that the years would have made her harder.
Perhaps they hadn’t.
Or perhaps she was just playing him. Time would tell.
“You stopped aging ten years ago.”
A slight inclination of her head. Freshmeat, or at least, that’s what the pack would have called her.
Jace just thought of her as—
Mine.
“We’ve never met.” Now her voice wasn’t so hesitant, but her fingers were still curled over the mark he’d put on her flesh.
“No, but I’ve watched you.” Before he’d taken over the pack, his job had been to monitor the vampires. To catalog their every move and report back to his alpha.
He’d watched and seen a blond beauty gaze up at the sun with tears in her eyes. Her twenty-fifth birthday. The day she’d finally changed.
Lathan, the ex-alpha, had wanted the pureblood taken out. She was supposed to have been a message to the vamps. We’re taking over this town. Time for you to be our bitches.
But Jace had seen her stare at that sun, and instead of hurting her, he’d torn his alpha apart.
Wolves couldn’t really recognize their mates on sight. At least, they weren’t supposed to recognize them.
Mine.
“Jace?” He liked the way she said his name, though he would prefer hearing her scream it in pleasure to whispering it so quietly. Later. “You didn’t answer my question,” she said with a lift of that stubborn chin.