“After you,” he said gallantly, and gestured to the direction he wanted me to walk. I dutifully went, trying not to glance back at Knight. “Funny,” Arthur commented when we'd been walking for a few minutes. “After how hard you tried to evade me, I thought you'd give up a fight when I caught you.” 'When' he'd said. Not 'if'. He was nothing if not egotistical. Why had I ever thought he was slightly attractive? “And I never expected you to be just standing there either. Are you that short on blood that you couldn't sense me?”
Why did he care? He'd caught his quarry. Job well done. Maybe he liked gloating. Or maybe he didn't like catching his prize so easily. Either way, he was a jerk.
He prattled the whole way back, and loudly. It wasn't typical for him. When he'd been at the Order trying to narrow down who had broken the law, he'd rarely spoken if it wasn't pertaining to his case or Olivier wasn't practically forcing him to answer her.
“Is there a reason you won't shut up?” I finally asked him.
“Never you mind,” was his response. Lovely.
We finally reached the abandoned building the Hunters were staying at, after a good thirty minutes of hiking. Arthur marched me through the old rusted doors, past two Hunters guarding them. A warehouse opened before me, and I was surrounded by Hunters. There had to be over two dozen of them, and each one as cold, ruthless, and slightly scary looking as Arthur was. My senses informed me of their exact number: 29, and how many weapons they all had: over 200 collectively.
That was a tad overkill.
“Wow,” I commented as Arthur put a hand to my back to shove me forward. “I wasn’t aware I was this dangerous. Maybe I should’ve gotten a tattoo to look scarier. Oww!” Arthur had shoved me again, hard, and tugged on the chain to stop me from falling, but it made the cuffs dig into my wrists.
“That’s enough, Arthur,” a clear stern voice said. I knew that voice. Olivier walked through the ranks as they parted for her. Her tight steampunk dreads perfectly match her leather Hunter garb, which included a leather bikini. She had seven weapons on her person, and I could only see four of them. Her face looked hard as she turned to me. She breathed in a heavy breath, but other than that, she had no reaction. This wasn’t my best friend. This was Olivier the Hunter. She looked back at Arthur. “We’ve got her. Now let’s go. The Council has convened in New York and we need to get her there as fast as possible.”
Arthur held up a hand. “Not just yet. I have some extra business here. In the meantime, let’s lock her-“
Arthur was interrupted by a large crash as the warehouse doors burst open. It was Knight, still shifted, swinging his paws at the guards. His claws hit deeply and the guards fell. He turned to see the large group of Hunters surrounding him and roared in fearless challenge. The other Hunters sprang into action, unsheathing swords and cocking guns, and Arthur grabbed my arm so hard his long nails cut into me. I cried out, just slightly at the unexpected pain, and drew Knight’s attention to me. He charged through the Hunters, clawing and throwing, until he reached me.
“Well,” Arthur started saying, no doubt about to monologue. Knight brought his claws down to the chain that tied me to Arthur and it snapped in half, the force knocking me to the floor. With his other hand, he smacked Arthur so hard he went flying.
Knight stood over me in a protective stance, his teeth bared and with a loud growl, dared them to challenge him. He’d done massive damage to the other Hunters. Vampires didn’t heal quickly when a Lycan was the attacker. I smelled blood everywhere. Knight looked down at me and I felt a twinge of fear that he would attack me as well. Instead he gently reached down to hook my cuffs with a claw, and huffed at Olivier in signal to unlock them. She grabbed the keys from Arthur, whose face had a red slice from cheek to forehead from Knight’s claws. She freed me, giving my hand a slight squeeze as she did, and backed away.
I stood, and Knight knelt with his back to me. He motioned with a claw and grunted. Get on my back. I mounted his back, he grabbed my legs tightly, and we sprinted out of the warehouse.
Twenty-five
Knight ran and ran, his claws never slacking on their grip around my legs. I clutched his neck tightly, my face buried in his furry neck. He took us away from the car and our things. None of that mattered now. If the Hunters found him, they’d take him to the Lycans and he’d be killed. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t. I didn’t care what I had to do to keep him safe.
Knight didn’t stop running until dawn. When the moon disappeared from the sky, he stumbled, throwing me from his back, and knelt on the ground in pain. His body started to shift back to its human form. I waited until it was over and he rolled over in a sweaty naked heap.
I took advantage of his weakness and stood up. I forced my voice to stay steady and told him, “I have to go.” I started running away from him.
“Don’t you dare,” he shouted behind me. “Lis, come back.” I’d run far, but not far enough that I didn’t hear him say, “Please don’t leave me.” I stopped running and wrapped my arms around myself, his words almost breaking my resolve. His smell got closer, so I started running again. He chased me through the forest. We were both fast, but I couldn’t let him catch me.
He was gaining on me so I picked up speed until I heard him cry out in pain. I faltered, only for a moment, and then he slammed into me, throwing us both to the ground. We plunged down a hill, his arms holding me to protect my head. When we stopped rolling, we lay side by side and he didn’t let me go. I thought about fighting him, but I couldn’t do it. I brought my hands up to clutch his back.
“Don’t leave,” he whispered into my hair. “Please don’t leave.”
“I have to.” I hugged him tighter. “I can’t let them find you. They’ll take you to the Lycans.”
“They won’t find us,” he said firmly. “I’ll protect you. I promised I’d keep you safe.”
I pulled away so I could scowl at his face. He was going to get himself killed because he cared too much about the protection he was obliged to give me. “Forget the promise. Forget the Alpha’s bracelet.”
“This isn’t about a stupid bracelet, you dummy.” He grabbed my wrists and brought them up in front of me. The bracelet was gone. “Look. You lost it when Arthur took you. If I stay with you, it’s because I want to.”
“And if I leave you, it’s because I want to,” I said back to him. “I abandoned my friends to protect them. If I can protect you by doing so, I will.”
“We’re beyond this, Lis. If any speck of what we’ve been through has taught us anything, it’s that if we’re going to survive, we need each other.” He brought a hand up to tuck some hair behind my ear. “Please. Trust that I can protect myself, and you.”
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. “I’ve felt the pain of losing people I loved. It never goes away. You just learn to live with it. And I can’t do that with you. I don’t know why, but I can’t.”
He stared at me, his hand still resting on my cheek. “Lis…”
Whatever was happening just then was interrupted by something pushing into my radar. I stiffened and sat up.
“What’s wrong?” Knight asked in concern.
I looked him in the eyes. “They’re here.” It wasn’t just the Hunters I felt. I could sense several Lycan packs coming in from all directions. We were surrounded. I saw it in his face when he realized it as well. I reached down and took his hand. They would kill him. He’d be gone forever. My knight, my protector. Suddenly the thought of my fate with the Order didn’t seem so bad. At least I wouldn’t have to live in a world without Knight. A world without sunlight.
A thought entered my head, something so foreign and forbidden, but it felt so right. I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward and kissed Knight on his perfect lips. I expected to feel repulsed, or at the very least zero attraction, but it was quite the opposite. All the warmth I’d felt every time I drank his blood was bursting from his body into mine. It hadn’t been the blood making me warm. It had been him. It had al
ways been him.
I pulled away from him and rested my forehead against his. My cheeks felt hot. “Sorry for not asking first.”
He kissed me long and slow as his fingers tunneled in my hair. “Forgiven,” he whispered when we caught our breath.
“I never… I never thought I’d fall for you,” I told him. “You’re a werewolf.” It was the same reason I’d given Balthazar. But Knight understood me. “I didn’t even…” I pet his head a little. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know I loved you.”
“I didn’t know either. Until, I did.” He smiled. “That sounded really stupid.” I laughed at him and he kissed me again. The Lycans and Hunters were closer. In the distance, I could hear the Lycans growling as they got closer. I gasped, grabbing Knight to me. I wasn’t scared of Lycans. I was scared because the closer they got, the less time I had with him. He held me tight and combed his fingers through my hair. “I won’t let them take you,” he whispered to me. I felt tears fall down my cheeks. He knew he couldn’t save me, or himself. He was only trying to make me feel better. As he always did.
“Don’t lie to me,” I told him with a sob. “Don’t ever lie to me.”
“Please don’t cry, Lis,” he pleaded softly. “I’ve seen you cry so many times. But you’re so strong. You have to stay strong for me. No matter what happens, promise?” I nodded against his shoulder. He pulled me back for another kiss before our pursuers reached us. I savored the feel of his lips, his scent in my nose, and even the smell of his blood.
Time stopped around us, and nothing else matter except the feel of our lips and bodies together. I knew I could kiss him for a hundred years and still always, always would need and want more. More of him. More of us. I looked back at all we’d been through, and it was all him. Every time he’d come through a door, my stomach had jumped, and I never noticed it. He could bring a smile to my face even when I was screaming with pain.
I loved him so much. I wanted to cry over the depth of my feelings, because here, on the last moment of my freedom, was the moment I’d found my soul mate. The one I’d been searching for ever since I was a fledgling. And he’d been here this whole time. Waiting. It didn’t matter that he was a werewolf, and he didn’t care that I was a vampire. We’d found love in an unexpected source, in the one person we never thought it would happen with. And with the only person we wanted it to happen with.
In that soft little moment, I felt complete. And I was ready to face my fate.
We were still kissing when they got to us.
The first thing they did was hit Knight with a dart. He slumped against me, still conscious but he could barely move. Two large Lycans came up to us, shoved me aside, and picked Knight off the ground. They still had a wary attitude towards him, the unknown element amongst their pack.
“I really wish I was wearing pants,” he said weakly, giving me a slight smile. I wasn’t complaining. One of the Hunters grabbed my arm and made me stand. Our two species stood on either side of the little clearing Knight and I had been sitting in. I watched as one of the Lycans helped Knight put on some shorts to cover himself.
“You kissed a filthy Lycan?” the Hunter holding my arm said, clearly ranking that with eating a rotting maggot. “I’d execute you myself for that if I could.”
Arthur came up to us and backhanded her on the face. “Your judgement means nothing, Cassandra. As revolting as kissing a Lycan is, it’s not against the law.”
“It should be,” Cassandra whispered in defiance. Arthur gave her a warning look, silently asking if she wanted another smack, as he locked my wrists in irons and chains. Olivier replaced Cassandra on the arm grabbing, except her grip on my bicep wasn’t so tight. Knight was still hanging limply between his captors.
“Please don’t hurt him,” I pleaded with the Alpha of the pack, a blonde rugged man.
The Alpha looked me over, his face displaying a small amount of the disgust the Hunters were feeling over me kissing a Lycan. “He’s a Primal werewolf. It’s too dangerous to let him live.”
“He’s not dangerous,” I told the Alpha, pleading for the man I loved. “I watched him. He only attacked to protect himself. Don’t kill him just because he’s different.”
“Enough,” Arthur declared sharply. “We’ve lingered here for too long. The Order is waiting.” Arthur reached for the arm Olivier wasn’t holding, but she pulled me away.
“Let her say goodbye,” she said firmly to Arthur. He sighed and nodded to her with respect. “Be quick,” she told me.
Knight lifted his head to look at me and smiled weakly. “Remember your promise, Lis.” Stay strong. Stay strong for him.
“I love you.” My voice wobbled and I held back the tears that wanted to overcome me.
His smile deepened and he stared at me with love and respect, in honor of everything. The pain, the struggles, and the laughter. “I love you, Lis.”
Arthur stepped forward, grabbed me, and slung me over his shoulder. As he and the Hunters walked in the other direction, my eyes didn’t leave Knight’s face until I couldn’t see it anymore.
I pushed out my senses, now permanently better than they used to be, and focused on him so hard I could feel his mind inside my own. He gasped at the sensation, and when he could catch his breath, he said one thing to me.
“I’ll find you again.”
I snapped back into my own head and felt my blood reserves fade away as I lost consciousness, taking away the only thing I had left of him.
END OF BOOK ONE
Knight of the Hunted Page 15