Plus, there was that strange zing that went through her body when she’d heard someone growl after Andre kissed her cheek and her eyes locked with a burly giant of a man standing at the edge of the crowded dance floor watching them. As soon as their eyes locked, she felt this overwhelming sense of familiarity and need to go to him, and it scared the living shit out of her. The way her body had reacted to him, her nipples puckered and her pussy moistened. She knew that if she could scent him over the smell of sweaty bodies in the room, she would have scented her mate.
So, why was she suddenly running? Hadn’t she just been feeling down because she didn’t think she would ever meet her mate?
Maybe it was because the man stood well over six feet tall, had biceps bigger than her head, and looked to be a shifter. There had to be a mistake because shifters and vampires did not mate. Most shifters, save a few, didn’t mate for life, or even have one true mate, and all vampires had just one true mate who was destined specifically for them. So this was definitely a mistake, one that had Elizabeth racing out of the crowded club and to the nearest taxi, not daring to look over her shoulder.
*****
Cole watched stunned from the dance floor, as Elizabeth Hunt pried herself away from the flamboyant French man and instead of seeking him out, made a beeline for the door. He was now sure that Ms. Hunt knew who he was and something told him she knew he was after her.
He pushed past the people and out the door of the club in time to see her jump into a taxi and take off.
Luckily, he knew where she lived, so he rounded the corner of the building, entering the dark alleyway and changed into his lynx form, before chasing after her, leaving his favorite leather pants, boots, and form-fitting sweater behind him. He would definitely have to come back for those when he was done.
Scaling low walls and buildings, staying to the shadows, he followed her taxi as it darted through traffic and down side roads. She must have offered to pay the driver extra in hopes of losing him. Too bad she didn’t take into account that he knew where she was staying and that being a cat-shifter made him swift and agile enough to keep up with any car, let alone a taxi cab that had to navigate heavy traffic.
Finally, the cab pulled to the curb in front of the building Ms. Hunt was staying at during her photo shoot in Germany. Cole jumped onto the balcony of the lowest apartment, watched as she got out of the cab and ran into the building as if the fires of hell were on her heels.
Knowing she was a couple of floors up, he jumped and climbed until he sat on the balcony next to hers, then he hopped over the small iron fencing to land on her balcony. He looked into the window through the sheer lace curtains as lights came on and Ms. Hunt walked into the apartment, shutting the door and leaning into it before she huffed out a relieved sigh. If Cole hadn’t been in his cat form he would have laughed, knowing that her relief was in vain.
He watched her as she set her purse down on the table next to the door, took off her jacket, flinging it over the back of a chair in her living room, while she made her way through the room, and then disappeared down the hallway.
After he was sure she was gone, he turned back into human form, willed his claws out so he could pick the lock on the French doors, and then slipped into the apartment. He heard the shower running, so he padded down the hallway before sneaking into her bedroom. The door to the en suite was open. He started to go in, with her in the shower and her back turned toward him, he could attack her there, leaving less of a mess when he chopped her head off. Then she turned around, so her side was to him, and he stopped abruptly in the doorway.
All he could see was her outlined silhouette through the transparent plastic curtain, but the image he had made his blood boil, his brain malfunction, and his cock stand straight up. She had her hair in her hands, rinsing out the shampoo that she had just applied, and her face was turned up into the spray. He could see the outline of one large, rounded breast, perky, with a hard long nipple topping it off. Then his eyes dipped down to her flat stomach, pert butt, toned thighs, and long legs, until he reached her feet, which he noticed she was standing on her tiptoes as if she were a ballerina.
Suddenly, she turned again, and stared straight at him through the curtain. She gasped and reached for the edge of the curtain and he felt the sudden need to hide. He stepped back to hide around the corner before she could pull the curtain out of the way to look and waited to see what she would do next. If she left the bathroom to inspect, he would have to grab her and take her down right there. However, everything in him said not to hurt her, even if it was his mission to kill her.
He waited for a few minutes more, but she never came out of the bathroom and the water continued to run. He didn’t peer around the corner to see if she was still looking. She could have very easily slipped out and had been waiting for him to do just that, so she could attack him. Instead, he slipped out of the bedroom and went back into the living room, where he found a dark corner he was sure she wouldn’t see him in if she entered the room, and waited.
*****
Liz couldn’t believe it. She knew what she’d seen when she looked through the curtain of her tiny shower. Her mystery man from the club had followed her home and now stood in her bathroom door, watching her shower, while donning no clothes and an unmistakable hard on.
She’d finally gotten the chance to scent him too, and verified that he was, in fact, her mate.
How in the world could that be? She had never heard of a shifter and vampire mating before. She couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around it.
She didn’t want to budge from the shower after he’d disappeared around the corner to hide from her. She just stood there, looking through the curtain, letting the water get cold on her, while she tried to slow her racing heart and think everything through.
After the water began to freeze and it didn’t look as if he was going to make another appearance, she decided she should probably get out.
She jumped out and dried off quickly, so she could get her clothes on fast and hide. She didn’t know why she had the instinct to run from her mate. She just felt that something was off about the entire thing. Sure, she’d heard stories about mates meeting and finding each other completely irresistible, but she’d never heard about one chasing the other and breaking into their home to get to them.
After she pulled on her long pajama pants and t-shirt, she looked around her bathroom for somewhere to hide, and nowhere stood out that he wouldn’t be able to find her.
Finally resolving herself to just go in the living room and see if her mind had been playing tricks on her, she walked out of the bathroom, through her bedroom, and down the hallway. Then, when she got to the end of the hallway, she groped around the wall, flipped on the overhead light of the living room, and popped her head around the corner to find nothing there. She walked fully into the room, peered around the corner of the entertainment center, and then through the lace curtains that covered the French doors of the balcony, and saw nothing.
She stood up straight and sighed. She must have been dreaming the whole thing up. She’d been pining over wanting a mate so badly her addled mind had created one for her and turned him into her stalker.
“I need a drink,” she whispered to herself as she headed to the kitchen.
When entering the kitchen she didn’t even flip the light on, figuring there would be enough light coming from the living room. She opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of synthetic blood and without even pouring it into a cup, opened the cap and began to chug.
That’s when she smelled it. The unmistakable scent of her mate assailed her nostrils, overpowering the blood, right before a large arm wrapped around her waist and a meaty hand grasped the bottle, pulling it away and setting it down, before it covered her mouth.
“Schreien Sie nicht und ich werde Sie nicht töten.” His heavily accented, baritone voice washed over her and caused her pussy to gush, even though he had just threatened to kill her if she screamed, and to her humi
liation, he inhaled the scent of her arousal.
“So mögen Sie die Bedrohung des Todes?” So you like the threat of death? He chuckled. “Dudo que sus víctimas lo quisieron bastante tanto.” I doubt your victims liked it quite so much.
Suddenly, he grabbed her breast and found her nipple, twisting it hard, causing pain to shoot through her body, and she shrieked around his hand.
“Shhh,” he whispered into her ear. “Le dije no chillar.” I told you not to scream.
Suddenly, he pulled his hand away, but grabbed her hair instead and yanked her head back.
“Please, I have no clue what you’re talking about,” she begged. “I’ve never hurt anyone in my whole life.”
“Silly little vampire,” he tsked. “Trying to get yourself out of this by lies.”
“I’m not lying,” she insisted.
He pulled her head back further, causing her to squeak, and looking into her eyes. “You no kill innocent humans for their blood?”
“If I killed humans for their blood, then why would I be drinking synthetic blood from a jug?” Liz asked, trying to get him to see reason.
He looked at the jug then back at her. His jaw tightened, but his hand loosened in her hair and finally after long minutes, released completely.
“I believe you,” he stated. “But that brings up another problem.”
“W-What?” she stuttered.
“What do I do with you now?” He looked at her as if thinking it over.
“Let me go?” she whispered.
“I can’t do that. Someone wants you dead, and they've hired me to do it. If they find out I didn't do my job, they will come after me as well,” he answered, making her heart drop into her stomach.
He looked her over, and stated, “You will come with me quietly, or I will kill you.”
“Why do you keep threatening to kill me?” she asked, indignant now, wondering why her mate would want her dead.
“Because, I might believe that you no kill innocent people, but I still don’t trust you.” He squeezed his arm around her waist for emphasis. “And I just got done saying that whoever wants you dead will come after me next if they find out I did not do my job. Then, they will send someone new for you.”
“But, but,” Liz stammered.
“No buts,” he growled, as he let go of her waist and pushed her out of the kitchen. “Now go pack some clothes. Nothing like that trashy outfit you wore tonight. Jeans, tshirts, sweaters, warm clothing. Where we are going is far colder than here.”
“How dare you call me trashy? Do you know who you’re speaking to?” She stomped her foot.
“I know very well, a spoiled little rich girl,” he replied, with a sneer on his face. “Maybe by the time this is all over I will have taught you that you don’t get everything you want in life.”
Liz’s face burned with anger, and she refused to do as he said, so she just glared back at him.
“Go now, little vampire, before I change my mind and kill you,” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and Liz knew he was probably telling the truth about killing her.
She turned on her heels and stomped into her room to pack. He might have said she couldn’t wear her usual attire where they were going, but he didn’t say anything about her underwear. At least that would make her feel somewhat like herself when she ended up wherever he was taking her.
Chapter Two
Cole looked over at the woman sitting next to him in his Hummer, and couldn’t help but wonder what she had done to make someone want her dead. He could see that she was used to getting her way, and she was a pain to be around, but most people were a pain to be around, which was why Cole lived in isolation, away from civilization.
He smiled to himself when he thought of what her reaction would be to where she would be staying. He had a one-bedroom cottage hidden in the depths of the Bavarian Forest, and it didn’t have all the modern conveniences she would be accustomed to. It had a bathroom, but there was no shower, water needed to be boiled, and poured into the bathtub before you could bathe. At least, the toilet worked and there was a sink with a mirror, so she couldn’t complain about that.
The kitchen was small, with a cast-iron stove that needed to be filled with wood and lit before you could cook on it, a butler sink, and an old refrigerator that chose when it wanted to work. He kept an ice chest for meat in the garage, which was the only luxury he afforded the place, save the king-sized bed, because he didn’t want his Hummer sitting out in the cold weather, getting rusty.
He navigated the Hummer over rough terrain as he weaved through large trees, on a road that wasn’t really made for vehicles. He couldn’t help but glance at his new captive occasionally to see what she was doing, but she was always just sitting there, pouting, and staring out the window. Usually the silence was a welcomed relief after having to go into civilization and take care of an assignment, but right now, it was driving him crazy.
“Where the hell are we going?” she suddenly asked him, and he turned to find her scowling at him.
“We are going home, little vampire.” He smiled sweetly at her, knowing it would just piss her off more. He had no idea why he liked to rile her up, but she sure looked cute when he did it.
“You live out here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked and was fuming now, he could tell.
“Yep,” he replied. “Right in the middle of the Bavarian Forest, in a little cottage, away from 'civilization' and its annoyances,” he said with a sneer.
“Damn lynx-shifters and their need to be ‘loners," she huffed as she turned to look out the window again.
“How do you know what kind of shifter I am?” he asked, surprised.
“I’m not stupid,” she snapped, glaring back at him. “It’s a well-known fact that mostly lynx-shifters inhabit the Bavarian Forest, taking over large territories and running off anyone who comes around because they have some dumb need to be alone all the time.”
Cole was stunned silent at her revelation. He hadn’t thought she would know anything past what the latest fashion was, let alone what he was and about his need for isolation.
“What’s wrong, shifter?” she asked, snidely. “Didn’t think the dumb supermodel, rich girl would know anything besides the latest fashions?”
Cole could feel his face heat with embarrassment at thinking just that.
“I wasn’t thinking that,” he lied. “Just because you’re a spoiled little, rich girl doesn’t mean you are dumb.”
“Liar,” she snorted and turned back to the window.
“Listen girl,” Cole growled. “When we get to my home you will start to listen to me and no more of this back talk. I will not tolerate your disrespect.”
“What are you going to do, kill me? That threat is getting kind of old, don’t you think?” She shot back.
“I have far better ways to punish you and make you listen. If you push me too far, I will just make you wish you were dead.” he threatened her, but in reality, he could never find himself torturing her in any way.
He looked over at her and perused her long, slender body. She had all the right curves, despite the fact that she was a bit thin for Cole’s liking. Perhaps he would punish her, but she wouldn’t be begging for death, unless of course, it was 'the little death.”
He shook his head again, trying to push out the thoughts. Why was this woman making him so damn horny? His cock had been hard since he had seen her in the shower the night before.
He had watched her pack, bending over to pick skimpy scraps of underwear out of drawers and throw them in a suitcase, before she covered them with the jeans, tshirts, and sweaters Cole had told her to pack. Each lace confection she brought out made his cock pulse with pain, and he couldn’t stop picturing her wearing them.
She had finally brought out an oversized pair of sweat pants and handed them to him, stating she was tired of looking at his cock, but when she licked her lips on the word cock, he knew she wanted to do more than just look. He would have taken her
up on the unspoken invitation, but he never forced a woman to do anything they didn’t want to, and he wasn’t going to start now.
He had put the sweats on wondering what boyfriend she had stolen them off and trying to stamp down the jealousy at the thought. Why would he get so jealous of her past conquests? It wasn’t like she was his. Lynx-shifters didn’t really have relationships. They just mated for a season and then went their separate ways.
Occasionally, a mate might come along that would make the man inside the shifter want to keep them by their side for a lifetime. These weren’t usually other lynx-shifters, but humans, and the human always died in the end, leaving the shifter alone and unable to find the desire to ever mate again.
That is what happened to his father. He had met Cole’s mother, a human woman who lived in a village not far from the Bavarian Forest, and had fallen instantly in love with her. He took her back to his home, and they'd Cole, but instead of going their separate ways after the initial mating, Cole’s father kept her and never mated with another woman again.
Cole had wanted that kind of relationship with a mate as he was growing up, until his mother died of old age, leaving his father behind to live another 18 years in misery without her. The day his father had died, he went in his lynx form up to where Cole's mother was buried. He curled up on top of her grave to go to sleep, but he never woke up again.
Cole had been in his early 60s when this had happened, still considered a kit because lynx-shifters lived until they were around 300 years old. So, when his father had just gone to his mother’s grave and died, it tore at Cole’s heart, and he decided from that moment on, he would never follow in his father’s footsteps and keep one woman to mate with for life.
Cole had over 15 kits out there wondering the countryside, and he had never met even one of them. He would do what a lynx was meant to do and mate for the season then go his separate way. He was happy with things like that, and he never wanted to have what his father had.
Lizzy's Lessons (The Hunt Family Series) Page 4