“I came to you every day at the same time. It took everything in me not to reveal myself. Bringing you into my world once again when we were constantly hunted because of what we stand against was too risky.” He lifted her chin with his fingertips so that their eyes were level again. “Your plan was perfect. The new identity. Moving far away from your District base. Cutting off all ties to past connections. I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“It obviously wasn’t so perfect if they found me.”
“Just last week, you called your parents’ home.”
Elaina’s mouth fell open in shock. “But it was from a pay phone. Miles away from my house or job.” She couldn’t stand the loneliness anymore, and had only wanted to hear their voices. She had to know that they were okay. All she had gotten was an answering machine, but that had been good enough.
“They traced the call. There’s a possibility that they have a bug on your parents’ line.”
She shook her head. “How did you know?”
“After you left the phone booth, I had Logan trace the last number dialed.”
“Damn.” She dug her fingernails into her palms. “I knew it was a bad idea.”
“I’m sorry, Elaina. I’m sorry I had to leave you alone.”
She frowned and pulled away from him. He’d been watching her all this time and knew she was unhappy. Hiding. Running for her life.
“We have to go.” He unfolded his hand and produced her keys on his palm.
“I need to grab some belongings from my house.”
“No. Your location has been compromised.”
“What do you mean, no?” She turned to face him. “There’s something I need to get. It’s very important.”
“Fine. We’ll stop to get what you need and move out immediately. It won’t be long before District 5 finds those dead trackers.”
“You’re right.” Elaina slipped the key in the ignition and started the SUV.
She wondered what would have become of her had Vicq not been around. Had those trackers really come to take her in? It was odd. Why not just kill her now? But if District 5 had really wanted her dead, they could have easily sent a sniper.
Glancing over at Vicq, she realized now that the vibrancy in his skin tone was likely due to feeding on one of the trackers who’d pursued her. He needed blood to sustain him. Dresdan had a healthy appetite. Just like most humans have a favorite food, the normal Dresdan have a preferred blood type.
According to the Dresdan, blood types went beyond the four main ones and were further expanded into subtypes. Each subgroup had a different flavor and scent. It just so happened that Vicq preferred her subtype to all others.
Five months ago, Elaina was sent to execute Vicq. He was one of the most powerful Dresdan and notorious for getting in the way of District 5’s missions. Instead of killing him, she fell under his spell and became his Donor.
* * *
*** Chapter 4
Elaina stashed her keys in her handbag and maneuvered around the parked rows of cars in the gravel parking lot leading to her home. Vicq followed closely but silently behind her, his boots barely grazing the ground.
Wind blew across her face and she briefly caught the scent of fresh lake water under her nose. Each day, coming home to her small houseboat in a tight-knit community that pretty much kept to themselves was comforting. No one asked questions here. The landlord had accepted her cash every month without a word. She’d become a loner in such a short time, relocating from the East Coast to the West Coast, traveling thousands of miles across the country to make a new name for herself. Evidently, District 5 had caught up with her. If Vicq was right about how they’d found her, it had taken them about a week after the phone call to her parents’ house to send out trackers for her.
Vicq fell in step beside her. “Remember when you told me you were eighteen before you could swim?” He chuckled under his breath. “I never thought you would choose to live on a houseboat.”
What a sheltered teen she had been. Her parents had never allowed her luxuries and freedom like her counterparts. She was homeschooled by her mother and had successfully completed her K through 12 studies by the age of 16. When she was old enough to move out, she’d made the drastic decision that had put her in this predicament. Her parents had always taught her that her upbringing as a child would mold her into the adult she’d become in the future. They were right. However, this future wasn’t what they’d had in mind.
She grinned. “Becoming part of District 5 is like joining the Marines. They push your ass in the deep end of the pool. If you want to live, you learn to swim—immediately.”
“You’ve managed quite well on your own. When I first started coming to you, I had to keep in mind that I needed to keep a sizable distance between us since you were once a tracker. You had a great nose, even before they started injecting you with their drugs.”
“I always had a feeling I was being watched.”
How didn’t she know the man she loved was only yards away from her? Had she been that reliant on the District drugs to detect a Dresdan?
The full moon reflected off the river, creating an eerie silver gleam. As they neared the dock leading to the row of houseboats, short bursts of wind brushed the water, causing ripples to form at the surface. As always, no one greeted her when she crossed the threshold into her home. Aside from the maintenance crew that came to do repairs when needed, no one else had ever been invited inside.
Elaina had always leaned toward cozy, small living spaces rather than large mansions. Many of her ex-colleagues at District 5 had earned their stripes in no time and moved on to live extravagantly and without worries by day. At night, when they were given their assignments, they took on a different persona. Being alive the next day was never promised, so most of them splurged and spent their healthy earnings. She had chosen to live well below her means. A rented room on the highest floor of a condominium had been her sanctuary before she went AWOL. A glamorous lifestyle had never been something she’d envisioned for herself anyway.
The houseboat she now called home was smaller than most efficiency apartments. She didn’t require much, only a place to sleep, eat, and wash up. This place allowed her to do all of that. Now she would have to leave it.
Vicq picked up a leather bound book, held it in his palm, and thumbed through it. His gaze roamed over the interior of her living space. “I can see that you still hoard books.”
“I don’t hoard them.” She only kept the good ones so she could read them again.
“Why do you keep so many?” He stalked across her room and peered out of the small window over the kitchen sink. “Seems that if you’ve read most of them, they wouldn’t be collecting dust in your home. Why not donate them to your library? You were always stingy, you know. With your blood...and other things.” He licked his lips.
“And you were always greedy.” Elaina lined up four empty duffle bags and began to unzip them one by one. “With your appetite and libido.”
Vicq’s breath swept the back of her ear and she tensed. He’d moved so quickly that she hadn’t even seen it. He nuzzled her, holding his moistened lips to her heated skin. “I needed you, mi amor. Back then and right now.”
Her body responded positively anytime he used his native language to woo her. Before he’d been turned, he worked in this country as a migrant. As a child he’d been separated from everyone he knew when his parents died in a house fire. He kept fond memories of his Fillipino father who had a kind heart and his Mexican mother who made all of his clothing.
“Mi reina…I missed touching you,” he whispered.
Her eyelids closed and she parted her lips. Vicq’s fingers gripped the expanse of her hips and he nudged his nose against her vein, inhaling deeply. The insides of her thighs grew warm from the heat of her arousal. Her pussy clenched at the thought of his cock, smooth like leather and hard as steel, thrusting into her wet sheath.
She bit her bottom lip, squeezed her eyelids tighter together,
and tried to rid herself of the image. He slid a hand downward until his fingers slipped past the waistband of her jeans. He stroked her mound with hot, roving fingers, and she cursed silently. She couldn’t deny that she wanted this, wanted him, even if it killed her.
His fingers slid between her wet slit and found her bud of pleasure. Elaina moaned as he stroked and flicked gently over her clit. Fear and tension were replaced with lust as she arched her back and pressed her ass against his cock.
“You see, Elaina, I can give you whatever it is you need.” He smoothed his cheek against her hair. “I’m greedy, yes, for your body and for your blood, but would you deny yourself what I can offer in return?”
Spoken like the true predator he was…
This was why it was too lethal to be with him. District 5 research proved that Dresdan males could seduce any female, satisfying more than just their sexual needs. They could send anyone on an emotional high...whatever they desired at the time. His kind, especially the males, thrived because of this. They had no problems enticing a potential meal into a dark alley or abandoned building. In order to live, they feasted on the weak and helpless. Some overindulged and killed their prey by draining them of life.
It didn’t help Elaina that she’d given her blood to him before. Once she’d let him inside her mind through the blood, it was compromised forever. She’d become his Donor. Her blood, his addiction.
He teased her clit with his fingers until she craved an ending to the torture—her release. She wanted it so much...but at what price?
Her eyes flew open, and she pulled from his grasp. “I don’t need a quick fuck.”
He laughed under his breath. “You have me mistaken for someone else. I have always taken you long and hard.”
A sharp tingle raced up her spine and her knees grew weak. She couldn’t concentrate on this escape if she was thinking about what he could do to satisfy the sexual awakening throbbing throughout her body. Elaina shook the vision of sex with Vicq from her head.
“Make yourself useful.” She grabbed two duffle bags and started toward the tall, wicker chest on the other side of the room. “Help me dump my clothes into these bags.”
Vicq caught her forearm and pulled the duffle bags from her grip. “I said one bag. Pack five days’ worth of clothes—that is all.”
“That would be two bags.” Not surprised by his stubbornness, Elaina jerked away with her bags. “My shoes and other incidentals go in their own bag.”
He frowned. “Incidentals?”
“My weapons,” she said.
“Fine! Pack it in two and let’s be on our way.”
She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at him. “What makes you think I want to roll with you for five days? We’ll part ways once I reach safety or they ca—”
He moved behind her before she’d even gotten the complete sentence out. “What do you mean...part ways?”
“If they catch up to us, I want you to leave me.”
“What? I came to you for a reason. I’m not leaving you anywhere.”
His eyes changed to a deep red, a sign of his aggression and his nature as a killer. How could she even think of him in that way? He killed, yes...but not mercilessly like others she knew. Vicq wasn’t a bad guy, yet he was targeted by many.
Elaina couldn’t meet his gaze anymore, so she looked away. “They’ll kill you. They only want to study me.”
“You’d let them?”
“To save you, yes.” She sighed. “If I give them what they want, I’ll have a chance to live. I’ll have a chance to return and get the information I need to save others.”
“What do they want from you, exactly?”
“The blood in my veins, Vicq.” She turned and searched his swirling red eyes. “Part of District 5’s research is to create a human with superior abilities much like yours. They’ve tried mixing the blood before, but the results were futile. The agent in the Dresdan blood never lasted long enough in a human to complete the tests. It has lasted longer in me.”
“I haven’t feed from you in months, but I can sense something is different about you.”
Elaina bit her bottom lip. “I know, Vicq. I feel different.” She shook her head. “I can’t explain it.” She looked down at the patterns on the area rug. “That’s probably why they’re still looking for me.”
“You’ve not crossed over...” His eyes shifted quickly back and forth over her face.
“You infected me with your blood, but not enough to change me.” She met his gaze. “You’ve known all along.”
“So, this is your plan? To go back to your mafia organization so they can study you? Is that really your choice?”
“What other options do I have? I bear the mark of a tracker. If another Dresdan were to find me, they’d kill me. Isn’t that why you didn’t come for me before? You’d be labeled as a traitor once again to your kind for helping me.” Elaina swallowed the fear rising in her throat. “I pose a danger to you both ways. I can’t stand to think of what will happen to you if you’re caught. Do you know what District 5 does to Dresdan these days?”
District 5 followed a set of procedures she knew all too well...
Capture. Torture. Observe. Execute. Salvage. The mission ensured depletion of the Dresdan...and the enhancement of a new human race.
Vicq grabbed her hand and snatched her into his body. He circled around to stand behind her, her back pressed up against his chest. She couldn’t deny that she needed him, craved touching him. His hand brushed the hair away from the nape of her neck. He breathed cold and heavy against the top of her spine.
She knew the symbol was there, emblazoned into her flesh, the mark... The five.
The palms of his hands smoothed down her bare arms. His fingers, cold at the tips, soothed her heated skin. The edge of his nose nudged the sensitive area behind her ear.
His lips grazed the cartilage. “There is an option.”
Yes, she knew about that option, the one that would turn her completely. It was why they hunted her in the first place. She’d given up the protection of District 5 to save the one vampire she couldn’t live without. If they aided each other now, and if she took the Dresdan bite, they would both be hunted for eternity.
“I don’t want to be what I am anymore. I never should have signed on with District 5,” She didn’t want to be hunted anymore. Why not just give District 5 what they wanted? Maybe, just maybe—
“You’re on the verge of transformation. You can let it happen, or go back to your organization, or wait and do nothing and see what happens.”
“I’ve waited for months as you can see. You were watching me. You and I both know I’m something other than human. If I accept change, what will I become? A human killer?”
“You forget, some of us aren’t human killers.” His breath blew against her hair. “Have you forgotten about your Vicq? Who I am?”
“Only a small percentage of your kind values human life. You feed on innocents.”
“By innocents, do you mean the weak and helpless or the unruly and murderous?” His tone was calm and patient as he challenged her conclusion. “I feed only to stay alive, as my promise to you. Do you forget?”
“Once the bite is delivered, there is no guarantee that I will live through the rest of the change.”
“You will live. Didn’t you already say it? My blood lives within you. You’re strong enough to withstand the change. Even your mafia knows it now.”
“They aren’t the mafia! There’s a mission, Vicq. The current leadership of the District has forgotten those values, but there are some of us that live by the initial mission. Human survival. Scientists estimate that if we don’t do what we can to preserve the human race, then we risk extinction, just as dinosaurs and so many other species have.” She shrugged from his grasp. “You think I will accept your bite and become reliant on human blood as the only food source?”
“Once we are bound, and you are turned, you can live by feeding off of me.”
/> “How? The District’s research shows that Dresdan need human blood to stay healthy and strong.”
“Not always. They misunderstand us. Some of us, anyway.”
Vicq swallowed, and the red disappeared from his eyes as his normal color returned. Elaina didn’t need to ask him if she’d offended him. The pain in his expression said it all. She slid her palm up the side of his face. “Vicq, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say those things to hurt you.”
“You can talk to me about anything on your mind. I promised that I could keep you safe and if you plan to do anything drastic, I think I should know.”
“I’m not your responsibility.” She kissed the dimple on his left cheek. “You’ve never seemed to understand that I gave my life to District 5 when I signed up. It’s my problem to bear.”
“No...”
Vicq’s head dipped low so that their lips leveled with each other’s. Butterflies swooped low in her belly as he took her into his arms. He beckoned her lips open and meshed his tongue with hers. Passion ignited in her chest and she forgot everything, even the fact that her life was in danger. Time floated just above them as Elaina let her needs overcome her doubts. They delved deeper into the kiss.
This was peace, and she wanted this feeling forever. It was too late to shut her thoughts off from him now. She’d left her mind open too long. Open to seeing visions and dreams that both of them knew could never be.
A hard thud sounded on the roof of the houseboat.
They jumped and tore apart from the kiss.
Running footsteps pounded the dock just outside her door. Shock lodged in Elaina’s throat. Without a doubt, she knew that District 5 trackers had found her again.
Vicq jerked her to the farthest corner of the room just as a spray of bullets shot down from the roof.
Her pistol lay just beyond reach, but if she could make it...
Elaina jerked away from Vicq, but not before he gripped her again and urged her toward the side near the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” He demanded over the thumping at the door. He kept a firmer hold on her arm as he scooped up the bathtub and held it perpendicular to the floor.
Aspen Valley Wolf Pack (The Complete Series) Page 82