by Cynthia Eden
“There are shoes in there, too,” he told her.
Yeah, it was a damn good thing he’d kept a back-up of supplies in the truck. But keeping a back-up was actually second nature for a werewolf. Werewolves were always ripping through their clothing at the worst possible time.
“How did you know my size?”
He knew her sizes, her birthday, her favorite color. He knew her favorite song and her favorite food. When he’d been hunting her, he’d learned everything he could about her. “Lucky guess.”
The lights of a police cruiser were swirling up ahead. Carter hadn’t turned on the truck’s headlights, he’d known they would attract attention, so when he saw the cruiser, he just pulled off the road and hid in the darkness. He killed the engine. “We need to wait here a bit. The firetrucks will roar past soon enough.” He could already hear them coming. “More cop cars, too. We’re out of sight here, though, so we’re safe. We just need to bide our time.”
“With the sun coming, I don’t have a whole lot of time to bide.” She pulled the shirt down over her midriff.
Watching her dress shouldn’t have been so sexy. Only, it was. Everything about her was sexy.
Fuck. He shoved open his door and stripped off the jeans he’d stolen. Jeans and shoes that didn’t fit. He grabbed for his back-ups and dressed there, trying to calm his body down.
“You took the bullets out of me.”
She’d followed him. Lauren stood near the side of the truck, her arms crossed over her chest, her body tense.
“You must have, right? Because they’re gone. I’m all healed.”
He buttoned his jeans. “Yeah, I got the bullets out.” And it enraged him that she’d been hit.
She stepped toward him. Her hand rose and pressed to his arm. “Thank you. I was afraid you’d died in that motel room.”
He caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. He kissed her wrist, right in the exact same spot that he’d bitten when he’d been bleeding out on the floor of their room.
Her breath caught as she gave a little shiver. “Why does it seem like I can still feel your teeth on me? I swear, it’s like some kind of brand, only…beneath my skin.”
Because it’s the mating bite, sweetness. The bite goes past the skin. It’s soul deep. He kissed her wrist again. “You shouldn’t have given me your blood.”
She laughed, a weak sound. “I couldn’t let you die. It was my fault you were hurt! You were just trying to help me, and instead, you got pulled into my nightmare.”
She had no clue. “It’s not your nightmare. You’re not in this alone.”
Her gaze held his.
“I will stand by you, no matter what happens. No matter what threat comes. I swear on my life, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. Her body edged closer to his. He lowered her hand, but he kept his fingers curled around her wrist. His thumb stroked over her racing pulse.
They stood in silence a moment, and all too soon, that silence was broken by the wail of the firetruck’s siren. The firetruck blasted past them, and the red lights from the truck momentarily flashed in the darkness. Another truck soon followed it.
“The Dealer…did she die in the fire?”
“Yes.” Her throat had been torn open, and she’d been left in the motel, her body near the door. The shooter who’d been with her had suffered the same fate.
“She wanted to kill me. She had so much rage in her, but I think that fury was directed more at Antoine than me. She hated him.”
Carter knew the feeling had been mutual. He also had no doubt that Antoine had given orders for the vamps to kill the witch. He knew she was going after Lauren, and he wasn’t going to let the witch kill his new vamp.
But Lauren wasn’t Antoine’s. She didn’t belong to the bastard.
“The wolf was real,” Lauren said.
He stroked her wrist.
A police car rushed past, its motor growling. That was the last vehicle that he could detect. Now was the perfect time for them to get the hell out of there.
“Did you see him?” Lauren demanded. “Big and hulking—he was trying to kill me.”
“No, he wasn’t.” He was trying to protect you from the crash. Trying to shield you.
But she looked away, not even seeming to hear his words. “He could be out there now, hunting us. We should go.”
“Lauren…”
She looked back at him.
“Vampires are real. You are a vampire, so you know a lot of the old stories out there, stories about monsters—they’re true.”
She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.
“I saw the wolf,” he said, nodding. He still held her right wrist. He didn’t want to let her go. “It wasn’t a…normal wolf.”
“Then what was it?”
Tell her. “It was a werewolf. And werewolves are very, very good at hunting vamps.”
Fear flashed on her face. “It’s going to hunt me?”
No. It’s going to protect you until its dying breath. His hold tightened on her. “Do you remember what happened to me in that motel room?”
“I-I gave you my blood…” Her gaze cut away from him. “Werewolves aren’t real.”
He finally let go of her wrist, but only so that his hand could rise and curl under her chin. He forced her to look back at him. “Werewolves are real. If those bastards hadn’t dragged you away, you would have seen me change fully.”
She stared at him a moment. “What?”
“They drugged you, so maybe you don’t remember everything, but I was starting to change. And when the transformation was complete, I tracked those bastards. I tracked you. Because there is nowhere you can go that I can’t find you.” They were linked now, always. His head lowered toward hers. “Nowhere.”
His mouth took hers. Precious Lauren. His Lauren. He’d been desperate to get to her. So frantic to find her, and now that she was in his arms, now that he was tasting her again, the beast inside of him was almost wild. Finally, finally, he’d have a mate of his own. Her blood would sustain him, and the addiction he’d had before would be—
Lauren shoved against him. “You’re the werewolf?”
He wanted to pull her tight against him. Wanted her mouth back. “Lauren…”
“A werewolf?” She shook her head, sending her hair tumbling over her shoulders “Why didn’t you tell me that important fact sooner? So that, you know, I wouldn’t flip the hell out?”
His jaw locked. “I told you I was sent to find you.” He still hadn’t told her who he was really working for. They needed to ease into that shit. Or maybe…maybe she never needed to know what a lying asshole he truly was. He just had to get to Antoine, kill the bastard, and she’d never need to discover that particular secret. “Werewolves are the best at tracking. Our senses are far superior to any other being’s.”
She held up a hand. “Stay away from me.”
What?
“I have to think. Everything…it’s all out of control.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “You were dying, because of me.”
“Lauren…”
“I don’t want you to die because of me.” Her hands had fisted now. “Werewolf, human, doesn’t matter—I don’t want you to die!”
“I’m not planning on dying.” He was planning to kill, in order to protect her.
But her eyes flew open. “Antoine sent those vamps after me. He’s going to keep sending others, and what if you get caught in the cross-fire a second time?” She gave a hard, negative shake of her head. “I won’t watch you bleed out before my eyes again.”
Wouldn’t happen.
“So we need to separate.”
What?
“Tell your friend Isabella…tell her thanks, but no thanks. I won’t put targets on anyone else.” Her smile made Carter’s heart ache. “Especially not you.” Her gaze drifted over his face. “A werewolf?” She turned away, those last words seemingly spoken more to herself than him, as she
grabbed for the door handle.
It hit him then…the lovely Lauren was truly planning to leave him. Not only that, but she was planning to take their only ride and basically dump him on the side of the road. Interesting.
Very much not happening.
So when she opened the truck door, he slammed it shut. “Think again.”
Her head swung toward him in surprise. “What?”
“You aren’t ditching me on the side of the road, sweetness. That’s not cool.”
Her lips parted. “It’s not ditching…it’s helping.”
“Bullshit. You’re scared as fuck,” and he was pissed, “because of what I am. You’re a vamp, and you just found out that other monsters are out there.”
She licked her lower lip. A quick, nervous swipe. “I think your teeth are sharper than mine.”
“You found out that you aren’t at the top of the food chain. That there’s a better beast out there when it comes to killing—”
“The bullets were silver!”
He frowned.
“I remember that part. I don’t remember everything that went down in that motel room, but I remember you telling me, ‘Silver’ again and again. I didn’t know what that meant but…werewolves…” She huffed out a hard breath. “Silver hurts them—I mean, you—right? Isn’t that how the story goes?”
“Not all those old stories are true.” The problem was…many of them were true. There was usually a bit of truth hidden in every lie.
“Don’t lie to me.” And pain was on her beautiful face. “I need you to be honest with me, okay? I feel like my head is about to explode, and I’m trying to hold my shit together, but the one person I trust in this whole, crazy world—he just told me that he’s a werewolf.”
She trusts me? “Just because I have a beast inside, it doesn’t mean you can’t count on me.”
“And just because you’re supernatural, it doesn’t mean you can’t die.” Her eyes gleamed up at him. “You were dying. Those vamps knew what you were, they knew about your silver weakness. You could have died in a fight that wasn’t yours.”
Hell, yes, it was his fight.
“I can’t have that on me.” She shook her head, and determination had her spine stiffening. “I-I care about you, Carter. I don’t want you dying for me.”
“Lauren…”
She pressed her lips together, then after a long, tense moment, she said, “So this is the end for us. Good-bye. You go your way.” She motioned toward the dark woods. “I’ll go mine. Only I’ll be going in the truck. Before you decide I’m just being a jerk and leaving you without a ride, remember that only one of us burns in the daylight, and I need to move fast.”
He shook his head. “I can’t let you go.”
“The human cops are going to find the SUV’s wreckage soon. The brighter it gets out here,” she cast a nervous glance toward the sky, “the easier it will be for them to discover it.”
The SUV had tumbled off the road, so the firefighters and the cops hadn’t even noticed it when they’d raced to the motel. But Lauren was right. The wreckage wouldn’t stay hidden forever.
“I can’t be out when the sun rises.”
“No, you can’t.” He wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her up.
“Stop it!”
He didn’t stop, not until she was in the truck—and he was behind the steering wheel. “You’re scared. You’re angry.” He started the engine but didn’t use the lights. Time to get the hell out of there. “But you are not getting away from me.”
“And you are not dying for me!”
His head turned toward her. “That’s what you’re not getting, sweetness.” She had no clue how much things had changed between them. “If it meant keeping you safe, I’d die in an instant.”
Her eyes widened.
“But lucky for us both, I don’t plan on dying.” He drove away from their hiding spot. “But I will kill any bastard who tries to take you from me. And that’s a promise.”
***
Wayne and Kent hadn’t reported in to him.
Antoine stalked near the window of his study. In the distance, he could see faint streaks of red just beginning to sweep across the sky. He only ever saw the briefest hints of the sunrise, and those small glimmers always looked just like blood to him.
He had his phone at his ear. It was ringing, over and over, but Wayne wasn’t answering the call.
The vamps had trailed Carter to Savannah, Georgia. On his order, they’d stayed in the background, watching, waiting, until the moment that Antoine had told them to attack. They should have killed the werewolf—Carter’s job had been done, after all. He’d found Lauren. Since Antoine had no intention of giving the guy a never-ending supply of vamp blood, Carter had always been destined to die.
Kent and Wayne were the executioners. At Antoine’s command, they should have eliminated the wolf. Then Wayne and Kent were supposed to collect Lauren. They were supposed to bring her back to Antoine.
Only the assholes hadn’t checked in!
The phone kept ringing in his ear. Over and over. The streaks of red in the sky turned brighter, and his body grew heavy as the sun took to the sky.
Lauren! Where in the hell are you?
Chapter Six
Werewolf Rules To Live (Or Die) By…
Rule Six: Nothing is more sacred to a wolf than his mate. Nothing.
“I’ve got you.”
Lauren actually felt those words roll through her body. They were deep, rumbling words, and they made her feel safe.
Crazy…since a werewolf was saying those words.
His arms were around her, and he had a thick, heavy cover over her body as he hurried her inside—inside where, exactly, she didn’t even know. He’d driven fast, and she was pretty sure they were somewhere in the mountainous northwest corner of Georgia. But…
A door creaked.
“The sun won’t touch you, baby, I promise.”
Good to know. Because if it did, she was going to burn.
His footsteps shuffled across the floor, and a moment later, he was lowering her onto a soft mattress. It dipped a bit beneath her weight.
“Don’t move,” Carter warned her.
Did it look as if she were about to jump up and run a marathon? When the sun rose, she grew so tired that she could barely function. A deep lethargy swept over her body, and pretty much all she could do was sleep. It sucked being so completely vulnerable during the day. Vampires were supposed to be strong, but when the sun was up, she was incredibly weak. Easy pickings.
“I’m going to take care of the windows, and I’ll be right back.”
Wonderful. Great. What a thoughtful werewolf.
Werewolf. He actually changed into a werewolf. With claws. With fur. With a mouthful of fangs.
Like she could really complain about the fangs.
And to think, she’d always had a thing for wolves…thought they were so wild, so beautiful in a savage way…
No one told me werewolves were real! Well, no one until Carter.
There were faint rustles around her. She didn’t stir.
Then…
The cover was gone from her face. He was touching her. She could feel his fingertips skimming over her cheek. “Didn’t know it looked like this, for a vamp, I mean. When the sun rose…”
The bed dipped again. Had he climbed into the bed with her? The big, bad wolf?
A faint moan slid from her.
“Easy.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You are too vulnerable like this.” Anger hummed in his voice. “No wonder Griffin is so obsessive about being close to Isabella during the day.”
She didn’t know who Griffin was, and her mind was getting foggy as she began to slip into the heavy, encompassing day sleep that vamps faced when the sun rose.
“It’s okay. I’ll be right here. You’re safe.” His lips pressed to her temple. “From now on, you’ll always be safe. I swear it.”
Don’t make p
romises you can’t keep.
“I’m sorry that I’ve lied to you.”
Wait—what?
She tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t. Obviously, Carter thought she was out completely. She wasn’t, not yet.
“Things have changed now, though. You’re mine, and I won’t be letting you go. Antoine can just think the fuck again.”
Her heartbeat had slowed, but fear still streaked through her.
“The deal is off,” Carter said. “He can’t have you back.”
And it was those words—those horrible, terrifying words—that she heard right before the darkness took her completely.
***
Lauren was too vulnerable. A brand new vampire, she had no defense against the power of the day. She’d basically collapsed when the sun rose, and Carter had been frantic to get her to safety.
So frantic that he’d gone to a werewolf safe house that he’d known was in the area. Shit, if any other werewolves were close by, if any of them happened to seek refuge at that place, then Carter would have a fight on his hands.
Werewolves and vampires were enemies—the kind of enemies that killed first and asked questions later. Only Lauren didn’t know that fact. She knew nothing about werewolves, except that he was one.
Another secret. Shit. He had screwed things up with her so much, and now he was going to have to tread very, very carefully in order to fix this mess.
He smoothed back her hair. She didn’t stir. But…
Was that a tear on her cheek? Why the hell would she be crying? Carefully, he wiped the tear away. “No more bad dreams, baby,” he told her gruffly. “You’ve got the worst monster out there at your command.”
Because he would do anything for her. When she’d given him her wrist, when she’d let him bite her, everything had changed.
Mate.
She wouldn’t know exactly what that simple word meant, not to a werewolf—not to a werewolf and a vampire. He’d explain. He’d get her to understand just how powerful the connection between them would be.
And he’d convince her that she belonged with him, to him, forever.
***
As soon as the sun set, Lauren’s eyes flew open. There was no gradual waking, no slow blinking or stretching. One minute, she was out cold, and the next…her gorgeous, bright blue eyes were locked on his.