by Tara Sampson
“Dammit!” Leo cursed when something nailed him in his midsection. With his breath knocked out of him, Leo was forced to release Shelby and stumbled backwards, clutching his throbbing side.
Two males, shifters, from what he could tell, grabbed Shelby roughly by the arms and jerked her back, pushing her up against the wall.
Leo’s sanity snapped. He crouched on the floor and curled back his lips, baring his fangs. A deadly hiss escaped his mouth and that was his only warning.
A second later…all hell broke loose.
Chapter 13
It all happened too fast. Both Leo and Shelby materialized in her apartment and in the blink of an eye, she had been ripped from his arms and he was sucker punched. That was all it took before Leo saw nothing but red—bright crimson red that completely colored his vision.
His bride was suddenly flung across the room with such intensity that he was able to hear the distinct swoosh of her breath as it was knocked out of her lungs. Before he lunged for the first assailant, Leo shot a fleeting glance in her direction and seen that she was pinned up against the wall by one of those mangy shifters.
Coyote, he noticed. That was what they smelt like—stinking coyote.
They were about to be dead coyotes now. When they dared to lay the first finger on his Shelby, they had signed their own death warrant. It was as simple as that.
He reached for the first culprit and wrapped his hand around its mangy neck. He squeezed his fingers in such a vice grip that it only took seconds for the coyote to figure out what was going to happen.
It looked into Leo’s eyes and paled when he realized that the vampire in front of him would settle for nothing less than his death.
He briefly tried to plead his case but no sound would escape his mouth. Leo had crushed his larynx and the lights around him were quickly dimming. Seeing the determination written on Leo’s face, the coyote had no choice but to succumb to his fate.
He knew his life was coming to an end and he would at least die with some dignity. He stared Leo directly in his eyes until he couldn’t see him anymore. He struggled once more to drag in a badly needed breath before finally going completely still.
Leo felt no satisfaction when the shifter’s heart thumped its last beat. Disgusted, he dropped the body to the floor, letting it crumple into a boneless heap.
Whirling around, he released a ferocious hiss and faced the second of his adversaries. He inhaled deeply and couldn’t help but smile when he smelled the fear wafting off him in waves.
He knew.
Oh yeah, the shifter knew all right that death was coming for him too, just like it came for his friend. His only bargaining chip was the fledgling that he held in his arms.
“Let her go,” Leo growled out. His voice was rigid and deadly calm.
The coyote’s eyes widened when Leo took an imposing step forward.
“Not yet,” he said with an air of desperateness surrounding him. “I will let her go only if you let me walk out that door unharmed.”
Leo cocked his head to the side and took another step forward, closing the distance between him and the animal that held his bride. His eyes flitted to Shelby and he was taken slightly by surprise by the fact that he couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking. He had expected confusion, fear, maybe even tears. What he hadn’t expected was the expressionless mask she was wearing.
Blinking, Leo switched his attention back to the coyote and roared, “You dare to challenge me.”
The coyote flinched and tightened his grip on his last ditch hope.
“Stay! You stay back from me or she’s a goner man.” His eyes were wild as he searched the room for all possible exits.
When I give the signal, I want you to jump to the side and break out of his arms. Do you understand me? He spoke the words in her mind and watched for her reaction.
Leo narrowed his eyes at his daring bride.
Shelby now is not the time to argue with me. You will do as I say. When I say move, I want you to jerk out of his hold and get behind me. That’s it.
She stared back at Leo not giving anything away. She was tired of being taken advantage of; being the weak little girl while everyone ran rough shot over her life. It happened first with her parents, then the kids at school and now Leo.
No more, she told herself. No more will I sit idly by and wait for fate to determine my path. It was time to grab the bull by the horns and run with it.
Leo had gifted her with abnormal strength, incredible speed and a strange sense of power that she couldn’t explain but she could feel it. She could feel that her strength was more, much more than the measly guy that held her. How, she didn’t know but she was about to put it all to the test. Her knight would just have to get over his little alpha mode and learn how to deal for once.
“I’m warning you man,” the coyote spoke up, pulling Shelby closer to him so that she was shielding him. “You take another step and I’ll break her in half.”
Move, he issued the guttural command in her head and leaped at the same time.
Shelby heard his order and didn’t hesitate to act. She brought up her heel behind her and instantly connected with his groin. The coyote yelped, releasing his hold on her and she wasted no time in rounding on him and letting her instincts for survival lead her.
She threw out her hand, palm facing out and felt for the first time in her life, the way that bone felt as it was crushed under her hand. He stumbled back and she stalked forward, kicking out. Her foot made a forceful impact with his stomach.
The coyote fell back to the ground and all Shelby could see was red. She jumped on the coyote and clawed at his face. The sight of his blood was like a high for her. It was total intoxication and she wanted to see more. She needed more. She wanted to bathe in the warm sticky substance that coated her hands.
At this point, her body was reacting on its own accord as she pummeled his face over and over, salivating with every new drop of blood that spilled.
His screeches and pleas for mercy landed on deaf ears. The coyote only wanted the killing blow to finally come but the true nature of the beast had come to the forefront in Shelby. She wanted him to suffer and suffer he would.
Leo stood there, completely dumbstruck for the first time in his entire life. His bride was tearing this shifter apart with complete ease. He was in utter awe. If this had been a human, it would be expected but the fact of the matter was that she was not beating the hell out of a human. He was a shifter and she was going to town on him.
Seeing that the shifter was close to death, Leo finally stepped in. He didn’t want this one to die so quickly. He had planned to question this one before he dispensed of him. He wanted to know why the shifters were in his bride’s old apartment in the first place.
He grabbed Shelby and pulled her off of the coyote that had gone still. She fought him like a wild cat, determined to get back to her prey. She was all predator now, her true nature making its presence known.
Lashing out, she managed to claw Leo’s arm. In its wake, a deep gash appeared that gushed a river of ruby red.
All Shelby could fathom was the need to kill the one that dared to hold her. When she was wrenched away from her quarry, she wailed in protest. It was a high-pitched noise that sounded so foreign she didn’t even recognize that it was her own voice.
She fought like hell to get back. She wanted; no, she needed more of that rich liquid coating her skin, bathing her body. She needed to feel the pound of its flesh underneath her fingertips.
Shelby.
Her name came as a whisper in her mind but it was though such a haze that she couldn’t comprehend who said it or where it was coming from. Her hand slashed out and a bitter sweet aroma filled the air. She suddenly stilled. Her eyes zeroed in on Leo’s arm and the sweet nectar that was welling up there.
Leo sensed immediately what had caught Shelby’s attention. She was in the midst of blood fever and the call of her sire’s blood was too strong of a temptation.
Seeing that the coyote was as good as dead, Leo held up his arm to give his bride the one thing that she wanted. Without hesitation, she latched onto his arm greedily and started to drink in large gulps.
Leo sat back on the floor, pulling Shelby into his lap while she took from his very life essence. He settled back, and let her drink. Drinking from your life partner like this was as intimate as two of their kind could get.
Although he was thoroughly irritated with the encounter that they just had, he couldn’t help but feel himself swell and his pants grow a little tighter. His Shelby was the epitome of eroticism and even now, she looked like an enchantress sitting up on his lap, taking what she desired.
All too soon though, her fever cooled and her pert little mouth left his arm. He held back the groan that threatened to escape his lips.
Shelby looked up and took in her surroundings, looking dazed and slightly confused. She went to stand and Leo held her in place until he was sure that she was back to normal.
“What happened?” she asked. Her voice was sore and scratchy from her angry screams just moments before.
“How are you feeling?” Leo questioned, cupping her chin and pulling her face back to him.
Shelby shook her head.
“Fine,” she said and blinked a few times. Her vision seemed to be clouded and everything was slightly rimmed in red. She looked up into the inky-black eyes of Leo and asked again, “What happened?”
Leo’s lips were flattened. He was searching her face for any signs that the blood fever was still there. Satisfied, he lightened his hold around her but wasn’t quite willing to completely let her go. He gestured with an inclination of his head in the direction of the lifeless shifter bodies.
“We were attacked,” he told her solemnly.
Shelby’s eyes grew wide.
“Attacked?” she repeated, staring over at the first body that Leo had dispensed with.
“Yes,” he confirmed, “by coyote shifters.”
“But why?” She turned back to Leo and looked at him expectantly. Leo shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know, my sweet. I was going to ask that one,” he said and waved his hand at the bloody shifter that lay crumpled in the corner, “but you-”
“Oh God,” Shelby slapped her hand over her mouth as the memories of what she had done came flooding back to her. “I did that. I-I killed him!”
She said it as more of a statement rather than a question. A lone tear, slowly tracked down her cheek and the pain that Leo read on her face was enough to do him in. He still didn’t understand how she was able to overcome him so easily, just being reborn but she did and that was all that mattered right now.
Breathing out, he pulled her head to his chest and ran his hand along the back of her head, smoothing down her hair.
“It was your only choice. If you didn’t kill him first then he would have killed you.”
“There’s always a choice.”
He could feel the tension building in her body and read the regret in her mind.
“Not this time, my sweet. You did what you had to do.”
She choked on a broken sob and the sound pulled at his heart strings. Feeling his own rage build, he made himself a promise right then and there. He would do anything; whether it was to move mountains or walk on water, to keep his precious dark angel safe.
Anything.
Not wanting to waste another minute in close proximity with the dead shifters, Leo waved his hand and in a second, both he and his bride were in his bed. Snapping his fingers, the room came to life in candlelight. Shelby continued to quietly weep in his arms and Leo had never felt so helpless in his life. So he did the only thing he knew to do—he held on to her. He held her close and he held her tight.
“Why haven’t we heard from them yet?” Ric complained.
He got off of the bed and went to the window, peering out into the darkness of the night.
The deed should be done by now, he thought to himself.
Tatiana sat up on the bed
“They’re shifters, Ric; not necessarily the brightest of the bunch.”
She stood up from the bed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. She laid her chin on his shoulder and sighed.
“Don’t worry, baby, she’s just a fledgling. They’ll do the job. This time tomorrow night, your master will be grieving for his loss and I’ll be there to help him through it. In a few weeks’ time, we’ll get married and then,” she stopped, leaving the unspoken thought hang in the air.
Ric turned around in her arms and pulled Tatiana even closer to him. He smiled down at her and kissed her thoroughly. She eagerly opened her mouth and let him take all that he wanted.
Breathless, Ric pulled back and added, “Then, we take him out.”
Tatiana grinned, lifting one perfectly manicured blood red finger nail to trace the outline of his lips.
“Then we take him out,” she agreed huskily. “Our plan is foolproof. Failure is not an option.”
Chapter 14
Leo looked down at the sleeping form of his beautiful bride. He wanted to tan her hide for disobeying him back at her apartment but he also couldn’t help to feel a sense of pride at the innate fierceness that she showed.
A curtain of blond tendrils shadowed Shelby’s face as she continued to slumber. Gently, he brushed back some of those silken locks, revealing the milky white skin of her cheek. He let his thumb lightly graze the skin, completely mesmerized by how soft it was.
He then let his fingers trail the frame of her face, taking in every nuance and cataloguing it to his memory. She was such a fascination to him—a beautiful red rose blooming out of the murkiest of pits of hell. That was what his bride had come to mean to him. His life, once so cold and dark was now brightened by her mere presence.
His fingers continued their easy exploration, soaking up her impassioned softness. They caressed the minuscule lobes of her ears and moved along to the strong line of her jaw. The entire time, Shelby’s face remained unchanged. His hands dipped further, brushing the bare skin of her collar bone. Leo splayed his fingers there, comparing his olive colored hand to the ghost like flesh of her breast bone.
He stroked her there, teasing the crest of her breast when his fingers ran over a thin chain.
What the…
Mildly curious, he pulled the delicate chain out from where it was tucked under her shirt and stared in disbelief at the pendant in his hand. His eyes flitted between the necklace and his bride’s dreamless face.
To be shocked would only be describing his state mildly. He was more like flabbergasted. The necklace that Shelby wore was no ordinary necklace. No, this necklace was one made of power—real power. It was a consecration pendant, made up of some of the strongest power that he had ever sensed. It was a pendant for protection and an extremely rare one at that.
Leo tucked the necklace back under her shirt, wondering how in the world his bride came upon such a prize. Even in their world, a piece like that was to be highly coveted. She had to have come by it before he brought her home and for a human to have something like that was just unfathomable.
Well that explained her ability to take down the shifter as if he was no more than a newborn babe, Leo thought to himself.
And still, the burning question remained—how did his innocent bride come by something so extraordinary?
His interests were definitely piqued. He kept tabs on Shelby, starting from the day that he first found her broken body lying still in the middle of the road. He always knew where she was, whom she was with and what she was doing. So how did she manage to obtain a damn consecration necklace without him knowing?
Going mad with questions, Leo needed to get some answers. The longer that he sat there in bed, the more he stewed over the possibilities. Leo finally couldn’t take it any longer. Hissing out a breath, he very carefully slid out from underneath Shelby and lift
ed himself off of the bed.
For a long minute, he just stood there, towering over his beautiful bride, trying to put many pieces of a gigantic puzzle together. The only problem was half of the pieces were missing. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated and turned away.
Closing his eyes, he mentally searched out his servant. He was going to get some answers, one way or another. He was going to find out why shifters were in Shelby’s apartment, and most importantly, how had she happened to come in possession of such an invaluable necklace and why in the hell did he not know about it?
Locating Ric down in the main dining room hall, Leo waved his hand and dissipated into a thin mist, solidifying in the hall just outside the door. He placed his hand on the door handle, ready to open it when he caught the low murmur of voices.
Pausing, he listened and realized that it was distinctly Tatiana and Ric’s voices that he was hearing.
At first, he thought it was odd that the two of them would be together. Tatiana was never the type to consort with anyone below her social class, especially a servant. She was more likely to look down her nose at them as if they were no better than the scum on the bottom of her shoe.
So, what exactly are they doing? He asked himself.
With his ear pressed to the door, he strained to pick up the conversation when everything suddenly got quiet.
Frowning, Leo waited another long minute before deciding to barge in. Something just didn’t seem quite right about the situation. It was a gut feeling that warned him that all was not as it seemed and after the day that he had been through, he was sick and tired of surprises.
Making a split second decision, he pushed open the door and strode in with determined steps only to come to a freezing halt.
Standing in the center of the room, Leo folded his hands over his chest and narrowed his inky-black eyes on the pair as they shared a passionate kiss.