by Kate Wendley
Helena wanted to dash over to Marc by the bar and tell him they were leaving. She wanted to get far away from this man, and anyone else in this club that might be like him, but as soon as she thought that, he looked her way.
Absolute terror took hold of her. The look in his eyes told her he could do bad, bad things without even breaking a sweat, and it made her feel alone and more scared than she’d ever been in her life.
Her wolf shrunk down inside her, trying to make herself invisible to this deadly stranger. But his scowling gaze was unearthly and heavy, as if he pinned her in place with just a look and all the struggling in the world wouldn’t do any good if she wanted to get free.
Marc returned with their drinks, but his eyes were locked on the man, who was now scowling at Marc again instead of Helena.
Marc growled under his breath, “I don’t particularly like the way that shifter is staring at us. He needs to mind his own goddamn business.” He spat a little more loudly, “Got a problem, buddy?”
The man heard him, Helena was sure of it, because shifter hearing was really, really good. Her stomach dropped even more when she risked another glance and saw that the dangerous man’s frown was turning into outright anger. She looked away in cowardice as she felt Marc’s wolf get even more anxious and irritated.
“Come on Marc. We don’t need to stay here. Let’s just go.” She did not need to see Marc’s wolf fury again. It was hard enough seeing him bleed as his friend punched and tore into him the night of the party. To see it now, she was afraid of what her own wolf might do, and she knew without a doubt that she was no match for the man in the corner.
As she reached for Marc’s hand, something made him dash behind her and put himself between her and the dangerous man. She watched in dread as he made his way over to them.
She blinked to clear her fuzzy eyes. Time must have gotten away from her because one second the man was at least thirty five feet away, and in the next heartbeat he’d closed half that distance. What the hell? Another heartbeat and he’d closed half that again.
Her heart raced in fear. She gripped Marc’s shoulder to urge him away, or let him know she was here for him no matter what, she wasn’t sure which. All she knew was that she was terrified.
Two shifters suddenly flanked Marc, and the power that rolled off them rivaled Charlie’s. They smelled wild and woodsy and full of energy, and with a sudden realization, she knew deep down that the angry man wasn’t a shifter.
She trembled all over, she was so scared. But she knew she was right. He didn’t feel like anything as he strode angrily closer, his energy bottled up so tight she knew he had complete and utter control over what and who he was. People would only know he was there if he wanted them to. Yet whenever he looked directly at her, the weight of the tremendous power in his glowing eyes pinned her in place. Her life was in his hands, she had no doubt about that.
But Marc was between him and her, and that made both her and her wolf mad. The growl erupted from her throat before she could think better about how unwise it was to call attention to herself, let alone threaten this man.
One of the powerful shifters, the one that wasn’t a wolf, put his hand on her leg and gave her a squeeze, but never took his eyes off the angry man.
She tried to calm herself, but with the deadly man’s attention on her again, her wolf whined and shrunk down inside her. She still had a grasp on Marc’s shoulder, and could feel his terror, too, yet there he stood, face to face with what could be death itself. In this moment she felt a swell of pride that he would put himself in the line of danger for her. She wished they were both anywhere but here, but since that was impossible, a wave of possessiveness came over her that no matter what happened, Marc was hers. He was hers and would never be anyone else’s ever again. And that bite mark that was almost completely faded on his neck? She was going to mark him properly the very instant they get out of this mess.
If they ever did.
Marc growled and whined as the man drew closer, but the powerful shifters kept themselves between Marc and the non-shifter man. Was he vampire? He smelled different. Now that he was closer she was able to scent him, and he smelled like a cool autumn day. He didn’t have the earthy smell that a shapeshifter had. He didn’t smell warm and fresh and full of life. He smelled brisk, like a fall day that was colder than expected. And he didn’t smell… her heart dropped. He didn’t smell like he had blood pumping through his veins. In fact, as she focused on him, she didn’t hear a heartbeat.
Vampire. This man was a vampire.
**
Marc could kick himself for his stupidity. He’d picked a fight with a damn vampire. Shit. He didn’t know how to tell how strong vampires were, he just knew that he hadn’t liked the way this guy was watching him and Helena. And now that he was closer, his unique smell gave him away. Marc couldn’t exactly get a feel for his power, which meant this guy was really good at hiding the fact that he was a supernatural creature. But that smells didn’t lie. He was definitely vampire.
Confusion washed through him when he suddenly couldn’t move. Fear was a crashing wave after that. His entire body was frozen in place, and not because he was scared. This vampire had power and was holding him right where he wanted him. But if he even thought about hurting Helena, Marc would kill him. He swore he would, one way or another.
The man was just a few steps from him now as he glared at Marc, then flicked a glance behind him, probably at Helena again. Their alpha, Sebastian, appeared out of nowhere and flanked Marc on one side, another powerful shifter on the other. Shit. If Sebastian was here, he was no doubt going to get a brutal beating either by him or by the vampire. This was not how he wanted to win Helena’s heart back.
And it was especially a time that he hated being so tall. His wolf knew better than to end up in a position where someone like his alpha had to look up at him. It was rare that Marc would even be this close to him, or anyone else this powerful, but when he was, he’d normally duck away, go sit down, or simply kneel. Tonight he was totally trapped. The best he could do was avert his eyes, but he was having a little trouble with that, too. Dammit. At least Sebastian wasn’t focused on him right now. But the vampire was.
He said with barely hidden restraint, “Calm yourself, wolf.”
Feeling slowly started creeping back into his hands and feet as the man angrily spat out, “I apologize for controlling you right now, but it’s for the good of both of us before either of us say or do anything… regrettable.”
The vampire stared Marc down as he regained more and more control over himself, and the man never once flicked a glance at Sebastian. Mean as nails, quick to kick your ass Sebastian. This vampire had no fear of him, which told him a lot about how powerful he was. And the fact that Sebastian didn’t lash out, or even swear at him told him that he feared him, too. Shit. But Marc’s panic turned into anger as the vampire kept glaring at him, then flicking a look back at Helena. Every time his eyes locked on her, Marc’s rage intensified.
The vampire finally settled his heavy gaze back on Marc, still ignoring the two powerful shifters flanking either side of him. “I’ll forgive your temper this evening since it is I that provoked it. I was merely noticing, or shall I say, I cannot help but notice that you and your mate have such perfectly aligned auras.” He curled his lip at that last part and bared his fangs.
Marc almost had all the feeling back in his body again as the man kept glaring at him.
“I’m over two hundred and sixty five years old and I’ve only ever seen one other shifter couple with such perfectly in sync auras.”
He’d never spent much time around vampires, no matter how old they claimed to be, and had never seen their teeth up close, but right now all he could stupidly think was that this guy’s delicate fangs couldn’t be anywhere near as powerful as Marc’s hearty wolf canines were. Now if only he could free himself completely, he’d kick his ass or die trying.
The vampire stepped closer. Standing only inches away now,
his next words came out cold as ice, and were spat out as if he were cursing him for a wrong Marc wasn’t aware he’d done to him. “It’s a rare thing you’ve found. Such calm and peace it must bring you both. If you would take some advice… don’t ever forget how lucky you are.”
The vampire finally flicked an irritated glance at Sebastian and the other shifter, curled his lip in disgust, then turned into mist and left.
Control over himself flooded back as the mist disappeared. Helena’s hand on his shoulder was comforting, but he knew there was nothing she could do if Sebastian decided to give him a beating over starting something, in the club, with a vampire. All of that was a no-no in their community. Dammit. He’d wanted to have a nice date with Helena. He wanted to show her he could be a good, responsible guy. Now all she was seeing was him being just like his friends… out of control.
It was time to take the heat for his stupidity, so he averted his eyes away from his alpha, not sure if he should kneel or just sit on the ground to lower himself to him. Too anxious to decide, he did nothing for now.
Sebastian and the other shifter stepped back a pace and faced him and Helena. Marc pressed his back against her chair and put his hand over hers on his shoulder.
Sebastian scowled and quickly snapped in a hushed tone, “Don’t pick a fight with Anthony ever again.”
His stomach dropped and he felt all the blood drain from his face. “That was Anthony?” The Master of Atlanta? Oh shit.
Sebastian’s frown deepened, and for a moment a look of incredulity crossed behind his eyes, but he didn’t make a move to lash out at Marc like he’d expected. Still, he didn’t relax just yet.
The shifter with the short black hair cut in as if Sebastian wasn’t the next most fearsome supernatural in Atlanta after Anthony. “Is that what I feel from you two? Aligned auras?” Marc kept one eye on Sebastian and one eye on this stranger. He didn’t like all this attention on them. He especially wanted all these men away from Helena.
The dark haired guy said, “Try to cut Anthony some slack. He’s got some things on his mind right now. Personal things. Name’s Zach. What’s yours?”
Zach? Oh Shit. The Alpha Jaguar. He didn’t want to be on his bad side, either. “My name’s Marc, sir.”
Zach cocked his head, then slowly smiled. “So you don’t know faces but you know names. Hmm.” Zach looked expectantly at Helena next.
“I’m Helena, sir.”
Zach was still smiling when he said, “So how’d you two lovebirds meet?”
Sebastian surprised them all by growling out, “They met at the Tabernacle at the Yeah Yeah Yeah show.”
Zach barked out a laugh. “What? Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought heavy metal was your thing. Do I need to check your music playlists from now on? Make sure there’s no Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber on there?”
Sebastian huffed and shook his head. “Oh God. Shut up.”
Zach kept chuckling as Sebastian rolled his eyes, then turned and slowly left. But Zach stuck around and leaned in as if they were old friends. “So… tell me about yourselves. You two are on a date? Have you been to−”
“Zach!” Sebastian growled at him from several feet away.
“Okay. Sheesh.” He turned back to Marc, shook his hand, and more quietly said, “Anthony’s a good guy but he’s in a bad place right now. Don’t take it personally. But mind yourself around him, and for the love of God, don’t pick any more fights with him.” He smirked and sauntered away while more loudly saying, “Nice to meet you two.”
**
Marc sat down across from Helena and they just stared at each other for a time. What. The. Hell. Just. Happened.
Helena looked just as shell shocked as he felt. This was the worst planned date in the world.
“Before you say anything, yes. I lost my temper. I knew from a glance that he was dangerous and−”
Helena grabbed his hand. “It’s ok. I had the same thought. My wolf didn’t like his attention on you either because, well hell. If anything happened to you I would feel like dying inside.”
Marc’s heart slowly stopped its frantic beat. “I still should’ve thought about it before trying to pick a fight.”
Helena chuckled and he frowned at her.
“You just stood up for me, not even caring who you were standing up to, Marc.” She smiled and caressed his hands in hers, and somehow it made him feel like not such an idiot. “I love you, Marc. My wolf, too, but we already knew we had that connection. Tonight it was just you and me, and you stood up for me to a pretty scary guy.”
He cynically said, “The Master of Atlanta.”
She chuckled. “But you didn’t even think about who it might be when you tried to protect me, did you? It didn’t matter to you.”
He stilled. “No. It didn’t. Because I love you.”
“And I love you. Now let’s go home. We have some catching up to do.”
“Home?”
“My place. Our place. Someone needs a spanking.”
Epilogue
They left the club and made it all the way to parking lot before Helena couldn’t take it anymore. There were no powerful people around and all the pressure was finally off them, so she hugged Marc close.
His arms immediately wrapped around her, holding her as if he never wanted to let her go. “Hey beautiful.”
She smiled at how quickly he melted into her, and how perfectly they fit against each other’s bodies. And his neck was so temptingly close… He was hers.
“Hey! Ow!”
He kept a hold of her, but he pulled back far enough to look her in the eyes while she while she licked his blood from her lips.
“You didn’t want me to mark you as mine?”
His eyes sparked and with a chuckle he said, “God I love you. And yes I want you to mark me.”
He snaked an arm around her waist and scuttled her across the parking lot, but they didn’t even make it to the car without yet another distraction.
A man stood uncertainly in front of them both and gave Marc a head bob. “Hey.” He looked to Helena and held out his hand. “You’re Helena? How you doing? I’m Rio.”
Marc’s best friend. Oh great. Helena cautiously shook his hand, and then he turned his attention back on Marc. “Will you be working out on Saturday at the gym? You and Helena?”
Marc frowned, then turned to her with a confused look on his face. She shrugged, unsure what he wanted her to say.
Marc said to his ex-friend, “We’ll see what our plans are and I’ll text you if we’re coming.”
Rio nodded and they surprisingly quickly parted ways.
“Marc, I don’t want you to think you can’t have any of your old friends because of me. But that lifestyle…”
“I’m never going back to that. Don’t worry.”
“He sounds different.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe he’s ready to meet you halfway. I mean, you were friends with him, with all of them for a reason.”
“Things can’t go back to the way they were.”
“No, but maybe you’re the one who can show them that life doesn’t have to be all one way or the other. You can be responsible and caring, and still have fun without losing complete control.”
He smirked at her. “Now I’m the responsible one?”
She chuckled. “I think you always were. You just didn’t know it.”
A wave of loving energy washed through her, and by the look in Marc’s eyes, he felt it too. Was it because they were true mates, like Anthony said?
Helena nuzzled in close, inhaling Marc’s intoxicating scent. “You’re my man.”
Marc gave her a possessive squeeze. “And you’re my woman.”
She smacked him on the ass and said, “And don’t you forget it.”
Mastering Darkness
A Forest of Darkness Novel #1
Anthony is hanging on to his humanity by his fingertips. A slip in his usual control during a gruesome task uncomfortably remin
ds him that the feel of his unbridled Master Vampire power is exhilarating… and freeing. But letting the cool creep of that wild, powerful energy overtake everything human about him would destroy any semblance of the life he’d built for himself, not to mention the lives of all those he protects.
A flirtatious chance meeting with a beautiful human shocks his heart into remembering sensations he thought he’d long lost the ability to experience. Oblivious to the supernatural world existing in the shadows all around her, Kaia has secrets of her own, though, like why she’s the only human living at Wild Woods, home to Anthony’s bitter foe.
As responsibilities keep Anthony tied to a life of duty and violence, time spent with Kaia gives him hope that he hasn’t yet become the monster he sees in the mirror. But is her love for real, or just a ploy to push him all the way into darkness?
Abandoned Darkness
A Forest of Darkness Novel #2
An Alpha Wolf too wild for love…
Having the rare ability to read minds won Sebastian no friends in a world full of secrets. Years of being shunned by the very people he’s sworn to protect only reinforces his bad attitude while he cultivates the deadly power of his wolf, keeping it barely contained most days.
A collision with the sweet woman of his dreams tests his ability to be more than just the angry, brute Alpha Wolf people know him as. But as his nagging fight with the old Alpha heats up, and Sebastian’s own screw up threatens an important friendship, he aches to lash out more than ever.
Jade’s animal abilities are the weakest in the family, so most days she can thankfully ignore that hated part of her existence. But after crashing into Sebastian, the most powerful, terrifying, and sexy shifter in Atlanta, her jaguar is awake in every good and horrible way, whether she likes it or not…