by Cynthia Eden
“It feels…strange,” she whispered. “Tingling…”
Because the flesh was mending. She was so close to the change now, so close to becoming fully vampire, that her body had already prepared for the shift.
Vamps could heal from nearly any wound. Because they were such fast healers, they were often damn hard to kill.
There were only three ways to kill a vampire—fire, beheading, or a stake to the heart.
No wonder Elsa hadn’t come after Allison on her own. The witch literally wasn’t strong enough to kill her.
But I am. A werewolf’s claws were the perfect weapon to behead a vamp.
He realized that his fingers were caressing her stomach. Sliding lightly over the flesh. His gaze lifted, met hers.
Want her.
“You…protected me.” Who’d ever done that before? And why the hell had she done it? He’d told her that he’d been sent to kill her, and the woman had still gone ahead and take a bullet for him.
Why?
Allison stared back at him.
Fuck. He rose. Left the room.
“Cade?” Allison called after him. He liked it when she said his name. Liked it when she touched him. When her scent surrounded him. “Don’t leave,” she said, the words quiet, but he heard them perfectly.
His chest ached. “I’m not.” He went back into the room with a wet cloth held in his hands. She was sitting up now, and her breasts pushed against the cups of her bra. Damn fine breasts.
Cade’s cock shoved against the front of his jeans, but he yanked back the lust.
For now.
Carefully, he put the wet cloth over her side and washed the blood off her skin. Creamy, smooth skin. The wound was all but gone. Vamps and their amped up healing powers. She’d have no scar to bear, not like him.
Scars covered far too much of him.
He glanced up and found Allison staring at the scar that sliced down his cheek and curled under his jaw. Cade’s back teeth clenched.
Then she lifted her hand and touched the rough skin. “What happened to you?”
Sympathy. Pity. He didn’t want either from her. He tossed the cloth unto the nightstand. It covered the bullet. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
He expected her to drop her hand. She didn’t. Just kept right on touching him, and the lust that he’d tried to hold back grew stronger with every second that passed.
Her heady scent filled his nose. Her body was so close, waiting for him. And she was touching him. Stroking his cheek. Staring up at him with those big, blue eyes.
She knew how dangerous he was. The lady should be hauling ass away from him.
Not—
“Tell me.” Her words were husky, whispered, and they slid right over his flesh better than any silken stroke.
Fine. Not like it was some deep, dark secret. His story had been talked about in bars. Whispered in the woods. “When I was fourteen, vamps attacked my pack.”
Her hand stilled on his cheek. Her eyes didn’t look away from his.
“I was too young to shift, but too damn big to be seen as anything other than a threat that they had to eliminate.” He’d always been big. But being big didn’t matter when you were up against a vampire’s enhanced strength.
“Before they got around to that eliminating…” He exhaled and remembered the scent of burning flesh. “They thought it would be fun to torture me.”
He saw the delicate movement of her throat as she swallowed. “Your face.”
Cade couldn’t help it. He laughed at that. Then he rose and made sure the light fell on his body. There would be no shadows to hide him any longer. He hadn’t taken the time to put his shirt back on before heading out to face Griggs and his gang. No shirt to cover him. No darkness to cloak the old wounds. “Sweetheart, my face was just the start.”
He turned around, real slow, making sure she had time to see all the marks that twisted his flesh.
Nothing nice or neat about him. The vamps had used silver knifes to peel away his skin. Then they’d used liquid silver to burn his muscles. To burn and burn until agony had been all he’d known.
He kept his back to her and stared straight ahead at the wall. The vampires had been laughing as he screamed.
“But I stopped them,” he said, still remembering. Still seeing. “I got out of the chains.” Out of the silver that had held his wrists so tightly. “At the first light of dawn, when they were weak and I was strong, I got out, and I killed every one of those fucking bloodsuckers.” With the claws that had finally sprang from his fingers. The pain, the fury—something had brought on the change in him. The wolf had burst to the surface that blood-soaked day, and his claws had ripped into his prey.
“But it was too late for the others in my pack,” he said. Far too late. “Everyone else was dead.” Tossed aside. Broken.
He’d never joined another pack. What was the point? To grow close to them, to care, only to wind up one day watching them all die in another attack?
He didn’t need anyone else. Didn’t want anyone else. It was far better to be alone.
When Cade felt the light touch on his back, he stiffened. Not fingers on his skin—the touch was too soft. That was—
Allison was kissing his back. Kissing the marks left by torture almost twenty years ago.
He spun around and caught her shoulders. “Don’t.”
She didn’t look afraid. She should. The wolf was far too close to breaking free. “Why not?” she asked him, staring into his eyes and he found he couldn’t look away. “You took care of me…why can’t I take care of you?”
“Because I don’t want your damn pity!” His words weren’t loud. Lethally soft.
“Pity isn’t what I want to give you.” Then she pulled from his hold, far too easily.
Barely human now. The vampire transformation was so close. Did she realize it?
Allison straightened her shoulders, and then she reached behind her back. He heard a soft snick and her bra slipped to the floor.
“I know what’s happening to me.”
Shit, were those tears in her eyes?
“I can feel the change. I mean, I just instantly healed from a freaking bullet wound. I know, okay? I know what I’m becoming.”
Some would say that she was becoming a monster.
Just like him.
“I know what I’m becoming, but I don’t know what will happen to me when—” She broke off and shook her head. Her breasts pointed up toward him, the nipples tight and hard and a pretty pink.
Want to taste.
His cock was so hard that it hurt. He wanted in her.
“I don’t care what’s going to happen tomorrow. I just care about right now.” Her hands dropped to the front of her jeans. They were undone. He’d undone them in his frenzy to repair her wound. “Right now, I want you.”
That was all he needed to hear. Before she could say anything else, before he could think of a reason why this was wrong, Cade had her flat on the bed. His body trapped hers, and his mouth tasted one sweet breast. And it was sweet. Sweet and tight and perfect in his mouth.
Perfect.
Her hands slid over his back. He didn’t tense when she touched his scars. Didn’t try to pull her hands away from the marks he’d always carry.
He just sucked her breast harder. Lapped at her nipple. One, then the other. His hands shoved down her jeans and yanked her panties away.
She wanted him.
He didn’t know how the hell he’d gotten that miracle, but he wasn’t about to turn her away.
In that moment, there wasn’t a single force on earth that would have made him leave her.
***
“You want him dead, witch?” Griggs swiped the blood from his nose as he glared at Elsa. “Kill him your own damn self. We’re not goin’ back. Not facin’ that fuckin’ freak again.”
Elsa glared at him and his worthless bunch of humans. These were supposed to be hunters? More like whipped puppies. “One man,” she snapped. Her ha
nds flattened on the table. Her mirror, the scrying mirror she’d used since her eighteenth birthday, gleamed upon the table’s surface. “You let one man defeat all of you?”
“Not a man.” Griggs spat blood on the floor. “Werewolf.”
“Werewolves can die.” Everyone and everything could die.
“You’re on your own.” Griggs turned away.
Her hands fisted. “I’ll double the money!” She was running out of time…and options. Vampires were closing in. They were already in the city. It wouldn’t be much longer before they found Allison.
Griggs hesitated. Greedy bastard. Sometimes, humans could be so predictable. Elsa started to smile.
“That guard dog she’s got…” Griggs glanced back over his shoulder and shook his head. “If we go back, he’ll kill us all.”
She could almost smell his fear. Rancid.
“You’re on your fucking own.” He stormed out, taking his men with him. Their thudding footsteps blended with the wild racing of her heart.
No, no, this couldn’t be happening. Not to her.
Elsa grabbed her knife. One quick slice over her arm and she had blood dropping onto her mirror. With her index finger, she slid the blood over the mirror’s surface as she chanted.
The image came to her, not slow and blurry, but fast and crisp.
Her future hadn’t changed.
The full moon hung in the air. Allison stood over her, with her vampire teeth bared. Allison’s eyes were wild, and blood dripped down her chin.
Elsa stared at the image. No change. Allison would still kill her in just a few days time. When she changed, when she became fully vampire, Allison would come after her.
“I’ll kill you first,” Elsa whispered. That’s why she’d first sought out Allison. Because of the death vision. She would change that vision.
She had to.
Elsa wasn’t planning on dying for some vampire bitch. Allison would be the one to die. She’d be the one to bleed and beg and scream and die.
“Not me,” Elsa said as she reached for the knife again.
She just had to find a way to hit the vampire’s weakness. Everyone had a weakness, even a pureblood vampire.
You’re the one who’ll die.
Chapter Five
Allison’s breath heaved out as she stared up at Cade. His arms were on either side of her body, his hands pushing down into the mattress as he caged her in place.
Lust and stark need etched hard lines onto his face, and his broad shoulders seemed to block out the light around them.
She was naked beneath him. Naked…and she could see the sharp edge of his teeth.
And the glow of the beast that lit his eyes.
Maybe she should have been afraid then.
But her head lifted and she met him in a hot, open-mouthed kiss. Her tongue slipped inside his mouth and tasted him. The werewolf’s power wasn’t scaring her.
It was turning her on.
Her hand fisted in his hair as she pulled him closer. Allison had enjoyed a handful of lovers in her life. The first few had been fumbling, the others more skilled.
Yet right then, she couldn’t remember any of their names. Couldn’t pull up their faces.
Only Cade.
She sucked on his lower lip. Heard his growl and felt her body tense in anticipation.
This wasn’t going to be some gentle ride. No sweet release.
Good. She wanted fire and passion. Wild pleasure.
Him.
Her lips slipped from his, and Allison kissed her way down his neck. His pulse raced beneath her lips, thudding in time with his heartbeat.
Blood.
She licked him. Bit lightly.
Blood.
Allison turned her head away, squeezing her eyes shut as she fought the dark impulse to drink from him. That wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted—
The bed shifted as he moved, sliding down her body. His fingers were rough, strong, as he pushed her thighs apart. Then those fingers were sliding up, stroking right over the core of her need, and a gasp broke from Allison’s lips.
“Look at me,” his growl.
Slowly, her eyes opened and her head turned toward him.
“What do you see…” His fingers pushed inside her. Stretched her. Thrust and made her want more. “When you look at me?”
She saw the man she wanted.
“Monster?” His fingers withdrew. Thrust deeper. Her hips lifted helplessly against him as she arched off the bed. “Or man?”
Allison licked her lips. “Man.” But what did he see? When he looked at her what—
“And I see the most fucking beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” He pulled his hand back. Yanked open his jeans and positioned his cock at the entrance of her body. “Beautiful.”
He made her feel that way.
“I’m safe,” he told her, voice rough and deep as he fought to hold his desire in check, and his gaze seemed to burn even brighter. “Werewolves can’t carry any diseases. Neither can vamps.”
She already knew that, just as she knew pregnancy wasn’t a risk for her, not then. Could a vampire and a werewolf even have a baby together?
Cade waited at the entrance of her body. She felt the broad shaft of his cock and she wanted him inside but…
“No fear,” he told her.
Allison shook her head. She didn’t fear him. Right then, she just wanted him. “Now, Cade. Now.”
Her wolf smiled and drove into her. He filled her, so full and thick, and Allison realized that she’d forgotten to breathe. He stilled for a moment, letting her adjust, and when she tightened around him, wanting more, Cade withdrew—then thrust in again, harder.
Her nails dug into his shoulders. She wanted hard. Wild. Him.
Each slide of his flesh sent need twisting through her. Her sex was so sensitive, stretched, eager.
Pleasure beckoned just out of reach.
The bed squeaked in time with their rhythm. Thrust. Withdraw. Thrust. Stronger each time. Deeper. Wilder.
Allison laughed. It just felt good. He felt good. Her nails dug deeper. Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him closer.
Cade’s mouth was on her neck. No, not her neck, but right at the curve of her shoulder. She could feel the edge of his teeth.
Maybe she wasn’t the only one who liked to bite.
And…and she liked the feel of his teeth. Allison tilted her head back and pushed harder against him.
Harder.
The climax hit her, slamming right through her body so that her breath choked out and pleasure rocked her. Not gentle. Not easy. So fierce that the room dimmed. Aftershocks trembled through her sex as ripples of release tightened her around him.
And Cade came. She felt the hot release inside of her even as his teeth nipped at her shoulder. He shuddered and his hands held her so tight.
As if he’d never let go.
His heartbeat raced. She could feel it against her. Drumming far faster than hers ever could. He was so warm around her. Warm and strong and solid.
In his arms, she was safe. Nothing could hurt her. No one.
Not while she was in his arms.
He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder and lifted his body as he stared down at her.
She didn’t want the moment to end. Not yet. Allison didn’t want to talk. Didn’t want to worry about what or who would be coming for them next.
Right then, she just wanted to pretend that the rest of the world didn’t matter. Just a man and woman—that’s all they were.
No monsters.
No darkness.
Just a man.
She pressed a kiss to his chest.
And a woman.
Cade began to thrust again.
***
She was gone. Cade knew he was alone even before his eyes opened. The bed felt cold. Allison’s scent was weak, barely hanging in the air.
She was gone.
Growling, he jerked up in bed. The woman never should have been able to give hi
m the slip. If he hadn’t spent half the day screwing her until he fell into an exhausted sleep, she damn well wouldn’t have gotten away.
He leapt from the bed. Didn’t she know how dangerous it was out there?
She needed him.
And he…fuck it, he wasn’t letting her get away from him. He grabbed his jeans, yanked them on, and followed the faint trail of her scent in the air. Roses.
He threw open the screen door, and it banged against the side of the cabin. She hadn’t taken the motorcycle. That was something. But then, he’d taken the liberty of hiding the keys.
His head turned slowly, and he stared at the thick line of trees. At the mountains that waited.
She’d gone off alone. Fuck.
Didn’t she realize? There was no place that she could go—no place that he wouldn’t follow.
He’d had one taste, and he wasn’t about to let his little pureblood go.
***
Elsa stood in the clearing, smiling. Her mirror had shown her just what she needed to see—Allison, running. Allison, scared and desperate.
The fool didn’t fully understand what was happening to her body. She didn’t know about vampire weaknesses.
She was about to find out. And a vampire running in the day…she might as well be human. Elsa could take out a human any day of the week. She’d been wrong to think that Allison was too powerful for her to handle alone. She could destroy the pureblood vamp. She would.
Elsa lifted her arms and called forth her magic. The spell of fire was always the first mastered by her kind. The first, and the most powerful.
The flames began to spread to the trees around her. The fire leapt from branch to branch, jumping through the forest. Soon, the fire would sweep out into a giant circle that would surround the fleeing vamp-to-be.
Surround Allison and trap her. The fire would close in. Slowly. Slowly.
The wolf had done his job after all. He’d lured Allison from the protection of the city. Got her into the wilderness where she was helpless. And soon…
Soon the fire would take her.
Elsa would make sure she stayed close enough to hear the bitch’s screams.
***
The scent of smoke reached her, thick, cloying, and Allison froze. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest, pounding hard enough to shake her.