NYC VAMPS (The Italians): Vampire Romance (Book Book 2)

by Sky Winters

  “I’m talking about you, Savannah,” Dominic replied as he took a step toward her.

  “What makes you think I want anything to do with you?” Savannah demanded, fear creeping up her throat.

  Dominic laughed. “Oh, don’t mistake my intentions, Savannah, my only interest in you stems from my little brother’s love for you. Can you imagine how upset, how angry he will be when he discovers that I have had the girl he loves?”

  Savannah felt her body grow cold and she had to remind herself to breathe. “Are you insane?” she asked. “You can’t do this.”

  “Watch me,” he said after a heartbeat of silence.

  Savannah felt her fear hurtle up toward her throat like a building avalanche. She suppressed a scream, and bolted for the trees. Her head start didn’t make even the tiniest of differences. He caught her before she had a chance to get away and pushed her down onto the muddy forest floor. When she hit the ground, Savannah saw a vision flash across her eyes. She saw herself standing in front of three people in long grey cloaks. They were looking at her with accusation, and she felt the fear of her vision merge with the fear she was already feeling.

  Dominic grabbed her by the torso and spun her around, so he was standing over her, looking down at her with sadistic glee in his eyes. She struggled under his grasp, but he was too strong. Dominic lowered himself on top of her and Savannah screamed, but she could hear no sound coming from herself as he forced her mouth shut with his hand and pulled her legs apart.

  “No,” Savannah said, unsure if she was saying the words out loud, or if they were all in her head. “This can’t be happening! No, no, no!”

  And then it was no longer happening. One moment Dominic was straddling her painfully, and the next she was freed from his weight and it was easier to breathe. She also realized she could no longer hear anything.

  She stayed where she was, her eyes trained on the sky above her. She had lost her hearing aid. It had fallen out when she was struggling with Dominic. She wondered if perhaps she was really dreaming. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to decide if she was awake or asleep, then she felt something touch her hand, and she felt her stomach turn in fear.

  It was not a dream, this was really happening, and Dominic was about to rape her, and leave her for dead. What was strange was that he was touching her gently. She wanted to open her eyes, but she was scared to.

  And then she smelt it, another scent, different from Dominic’s, but all too familiar.

  She opened her eyes to find she was staring into Xander’s soft grey ones. She gasped out his name, though she still could not hear herself speak. She bolted upright into a sitting position, and fell into Xander’s waiting arms. He looked worried, but he also looked relieved. He looked at her again and spoke. Savannah focused her eyes on his lips.

  “Are you all right?”

  Savannah nodded. “I think so,” she signed to him.

  He stared at her in confusion and shook his head. “I can’t understand you, Savannah,” he responded.

  Savannah looked around her and noticed the white earpiece of her hearing aid half hidden among the grit and dirt of the forest. She pointed to it, and Xander retrieved it, and helped her fit it back on. Almost instantly, Savannah felt a flush of sound fill her ears, though it was somewhat muted, and she was getting more sound in her left ear than she was getting on the right; she suspected it might have been damaged in the scuffle.

  “Savannah?” Xander’s voice was so beautiful to hear.

  “Where is he?” Savannah asked, hearing her own voice at last.

  “Gone,” Xander replied. “For the moment--”

  “You got rid of him?”

  “I… pulled him off you.” Xander nodded. “But I couldn’t fight him. I was too worried about you.”

  “But then how…”

  “The boys were with me,” Xander explained. “They took him on, but he knew he was outnumbered, so he ran. They went after him. Did he hurt you?”

  “He almost did.” Savannah nodded, feeling a little light headed.

  “Come on,” Xander said, putting an arm around her and lifting her easily to her feet. “Let’s head to the cabin. You’ll be safe there.”

  Xander half carried her to the cabin. As soon as they were inside, Xander locked the doors and turned to Savannah. “Is there anything I can get you?” he asked. “Anything you need?”

  “I want to shower,” Savannah said. She wanted to erase the feel of Dominic’s hands on her body. She could still feel the weight of him on top of her.

  “Of course.” Xander nodded and led her to a little room with an attached bathroom. “There are towels in the bottom drawer, but the water will be cold.”

  “That’s okay,” Savannah said. “I don’t mind.”

  Xander turned to leave and give her some privacy, but Savannah grabbed him by the arm before he could go. “No,” she said. “Stay with me.”

  He turned around slowly and saw a spark of hesitation in his eyes, but it was eclipsed by his desire. Savannah knew this would only make it harder for them later, but at the moment she didn’t care. She needed him now to erase the pain and fear she had just experienced, and she knew he wouldn’t be able to deny her.

  Xander moved toward the bathtub and filled it with water. Slowly, Savannah began to remove her clothes. When Xander turned back to her she was naked. He glanced at her body for only an instant, and then averted his eyes. He helped Savannah into the bathtub, and then knelt down beside the tub and scrubbed her gently.

  “He wanted to rape me to hurt you,” Savannah said after a moment.

  “He hates me,” Xander said. “He knew that hurting you would be the surest way to destroy me.”

  Savannah shivered, but it wasn’t because of the cold water. “I can’t believe that he would do something so deplorable.”

  “People are capable of all sorts of deplorable things,” Xander said, running a soft sponge along Savannah’s arched spine.

  “I think I discovered something about myself today,” Savannah admitted as the thought came to her, out of the blue.

  “Tell me.”

  “I lost my hearing aid around the time Dominic grabbed me, and threw me to the ground, and almost immediately afterwards, I had another vision.”

  “You’ve had them before, haven’t you?” Xander asked. “With your hearing aid on?”

  “Yes.” Savannah nodded. “But the visions aren’t clear. They’re so fast I can barely understand them, but they were clearer without the hearing aid.”

  “What did you see?”

  Savannah smiled. “The vision was clear, but I still don’t know what it meant. I was standing in front of three people--”

  “That’s all?”

  Savannah nodded. “That’s all. But who knows? Maybe I’m just as special as you are.”

  Xander smiled. “You already are.”

  “I can’t turn into a wolf.”

  “Then you’re the luckier one.”

  “You love being a wolf,” Savannah said.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Xander,” Savannah said gently, “you forget my other gift: I can sense things from people, and the better I know them the easier it is for me to read them. I know you love it; I can sense it.”

  Xander sighed. “I don’t love that it’s keeping us apart.”

  Savannah nodded. “I know. “I sense that too.”

  Savannah finished with her bath, and rose from the tub. Xander held a towel out to her and wrapped her in it. She followed him into the room and he started to wipe off the small diamonds of water that clung to her body. His eyes traveled over her freely, and Savannah sensed the shift in emotion as he admired her naked body brazenly, and without apology.

  Instinctively, Savannah leaned in and kissed him. A moment later, the towel in Xander’s hands fell to the floor. He hesitated for only a moment before his hands pulled her to him. They fell backwards onto the bed behind them, their hands exploring each other’s bodies wi
th blind passion. Xander kissed her lips tenderly, and then he kissed her neck, her breasts, and her stomach.

  She surrendered herself to him, uncaring of the consequences and completely uninhibited. He was passionate and gentle, but he was also animalistic and unpredictable. Savannah had never been with a man, and she should have been nervous, scared, and shy, but she wasn’t any of those things.

  It felt like the most natural thing in the world. As Xander kissed her and moved on top of her, Savannah felt the potency of her feelings as well as his. She felt his aura burning fiercely into hers, and she knew they were joining more than just their bodies. Savannah gasped in delight as he moved inside her. She clung to him, wanting the moment to last forever so they would never have to leave the cabin and face the cruel world outside.

  As Xander made love to her, Savannah sensed the worry encased beneath all the stronger emotions he was feeling. He knew they shouldn’t be getting in deeper, but he simply could not stop himself. Ironically, it was the animalistic, feral part of him that was more in control.

  When Savannah woke up the next morning cocooned against the warmth of Xander’s body, she noticed he was wide-awake. He was looking at her intently, with an unknowable expression on his face.

  “What is it?” Savannah asked, as she ran her fingers across his cheek.

  “I can’t let you go,” Xander said with muted determination in his voice.

  “Xander,” Savannah said, sitting up, “we don’t have a choice.”

  “I should have fought harder from the beginning,” Xander said with new resolve. “At least I can fight for us now.”

  “How?” Savannah asked, desperately clinging to the hope she could sense in his voice.

  “I will have to plead my case,” Xander said.

  “To whom?”

  “To the Council of Elders,” Xander said. “I will have to go before the pack leaders and speak directly to the alpha.”

  “The alpha?” Savannah said. “Does that mean you will have to go before your uncle?”

  Xander sighed. “Yes, it does.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I’m coming with you,” Savannah said.

  She expected him to refuse her, but he nodded. “I want you with me.”

  While Savannah dressed, she heard Xander in the next room making a phone call to someone. When he came back, his face was grim and serious.

  “What happened?” Savannah asked. “Whom were you talking to?"

  “That was Brace,” Xander replied. “One of my friends. I told him to inform the council that I initiated a pack meeting, one hour from now.”

  “Xander,” Savannah began.

  “I can’t wait any longer, Savannah,” Xander said wearily. “I need this resolved. I need an answer from them. If we have their permission, their blessing, then we can be together.”

  “And what if they deny us?”

  Xander’s eyes clouded over, and Savannah had her answer. “Let’s not think about that until we have to,” Xander said in a low voice.

  Sooner than she could have imagined, she and Xander left behind the silence of the cabin and headed to the clearing where the pack meeting was to be held. It was just as beautiful as the first time Xander had taken her there, but Savannah was so nervous she couldn’t fully appreciate it.

  “Breathe, Savannah,” Xander said, squeezing her hand.

  “I can feel your fear,” Savannah whispered to him, “and it’s making me even more nervous.”

  Xander smiled, and Savannah marvelled at his ability to keep a cool and calm exterior despite the turmoil of emotion he was experiencing. “Don’t let them see how much we want this,” he told Savannah, and she willed herself to adopt his calm façade.

  They were standing beside the lake when Savannah registered the change in climate. She felt burning heat coming toward them as she sensed the others start to approach. She turned around and saw Xander’s friends enter the clearing from the woods. They were the only ones who looked at her sympathetically, without hate or jealousy. Still, they did not seem happy, either. They were weary and nervous of what was to come.

  On their heels came the girls. Savannah froze as she took in Marissa’s furious eyes. If Savannah had not been able to sense people's auras, she would not have been able to sense how fiercely Marissa hated her.

  There were nine of them in the clearing. The pack members stood to one side, staring over at Xander and Savannah, their eyes lingering on their entwined hands. Savannah tried to remove her hand from Xander’s but he kept a firm grip on her.

  And then they came. Savannah held her breath and watched as three cloaked figures entered the clearing at the same time. Instantly she realized this was the vision she had seen yesterday, when Dominic had cornered her in the forest. She had seen herself standing before the Council of Elders, waiting for them to cast judgement on her future, waiting for them to raise her up or destroy her whole.

  The elders moved into the center of the loose circle, their backs to the lake so that they were facing the young pack members. They removed their cloaks, and Savannah recognized the woman on the far right. It was impossible to forget that kind of careless beauty. Savannah knew she should not have been surprised‒she had sensed it from day one--but it had caught her off guard, nonetheless.

  “Hello Savannah,” Principal Harris greeted her, blue eyes flashing.

  Savannah nodded, feeling her words catch in her throat. In the middle, between the two women, stood a tall, bald man, with fantastic green eyes. There was little resemblance between him and Xander, but Savannah could still sense the blood bond between them. To his left stood another woman with braided black hair, and eyes just as dark. She looked like she belonged on some exotic runway.

  Before anyone could speak, Marissa stepped forward. “This is a pack meeting,” she said, her tone carrying splinters. “He should not have been allowed to bring her here. This is a sacred place.”

  “This is true, Malick,” Principal Harris said, agreeing with her daughter. “It is not allowed.”

  “Why have you brought Savannah here, Xander?” Malick asked, turning his intense green eyes on Xander and Savannah.

  “I know the rules,” Xander said, stepping forward. “And I understand and respect them–"

  “If you truly respected the rules none of us would be here now,” Marissa said, cutting Xander off.

  “Let him speak,” Johnny said, glaring at Marissa. “He is the alpha.”

  “He’s not alpha yet,” Marissa snapped back.

  “Stop!” Malick said, and a hush fell over the pack instantly. “Xander has broken many rules, but he deserves the chance to explain himself. Xander, you have the floor.”

  “Thank you, Uncle,” Xander said, dipping his head in respect. He took another step forward, and Savannah felt the urge to reach out and pull him back to her side. She felt strangely sick, but she suppressed the urge to sit down and rest her legs.

  “As I said, I do have respect for the rules that govern our kind, but I cannot deny I have other wishes that cannot be fulfilled in this pack, in my role here, and in my duty as the future alpha. I cannot control how I feel, and I cannot change whom I love. I had no choice in this. I understand the rules: I must marry a wolf shifter so we may create the next generation together, but I cannot deny that I love Savannah.”

  “We know all this, Xander,” Malick said after a moment. “You love the girl, you told me so the first day you laid eyes on her--what is it you’re really here to say?’

  “I am here to ask, to implore the council to grant us permission to be together,” Xander said, speaking slowly so that his request would sink in.

  The moment he spoke the words, Savannah felt rage ignite inside her. There was more than just rage--there was worry, concern, jealousy, and fear. Savannah did not understand half of what she was sensing from the pack, and it cemented her difference. She was not one of them. She did not understand their customs or their rules. They were all alien to her.

&nb
sp; “You want our permission?” Malick asked calmly, staring Xander in the eye.

  “Yes.” Xander nodded. “That is what I want.”

  “You cannot have both, Xander,” Malick said. “You know the price of choosing Savannah--it will come at the expense of this pack…your pack. If you abandon them now, the next alpha will be Dominic.”

  “Not if you refuse to recognize him as the alpha,” Xander said desperately. “You can cast him out, shun him, and look to me as the next leader still.”

  “As I said, you cannot have both.”

  Xander sighed deeply. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “You know that is not true,” Malick said harshly. “You have known the rules your whole life. You understood what it meant to be the alpha. I believed you were ready.”

  “He is ready,” the dark skinned, braided beauty beside Malick said, speaking up for the first time. “We can all sense his abilities, but he is also tormented by his love for the girl, and we cannot ignore that.”

  “What else can we do?” Principal Harris asked. “If Xander chooses Savannah he dooms the pack, and if he chooses the pack, he must give up the girl.”

  “I don’t understand,” Savannah said, speaking up. Everyone turned to her and she felt the full weight of everyone’s eyes on her. She took a deep breath and continued. “I just…I don’t understand why another leader can’t be chosen. If Xander cannot lead the pack, why does it have to be Dominic?"

  Xander turned around and faced her.

  “She knows nothing,” Marissa spat. “You haven’t told her the most important part.”

  Savannah ignored Marissa and stared at Xander, searching for the answers in his eyes. “The next, natural alpha possesses abilities that other wolf shifters are born without,” Xander said, slowly. “Once I become the alpha I will have…a certain amount of control over the pack, and if I break from tradition, then those powers will waste away, and the next in line will inherit them. Dominic would inherit them.”

  “Your father didn’t,” Savannah pointed out, desperate for some loophole that would save them. “You told me you were next in line to be the alpha, not your father.”